
ttMT.ars; 

















t 










/ 















■)V v HE 

■ 




































































. 
































































agffiSS 



-'"ir 




■'V 


THE WHITE LADY MADE SUGAR CAKES 


TRUDY AND 
TIMOTHY 

By Bertha Currier Porter 



Illustrated by 
May Aiken 


THE PENN PUBLISHING 
COMPANY PHILADELPHIA 
1917 


COPYRIGHT 
1917 BY 
THE) PENN 
PUBLISHING 
COMPANY 



and Timothy 


Introduction 


Dear Boys and Girls : 

Once I heard a boy say, very scornfully, 
“ Oh, I wouldn't live in the country ! It's a 
stupid place — nothing to do there ! ” and it 
made me very cross to hear him. But after- 
ward I learned that all he knew about the 
country was whizzing over the roads in a big 
automobile, and he went through the villages 
and by the farmhouses so fast that he could not 
see what the people were doing — so how could 
he know anything about it? 

Now really to know what fun you can have 
in the country, a boy or a girl must have three 
things to use — hands and feet and eyes — hands 
to keep busy doing things, for country people 
must do for themselves many tasks that city 
folks have done for them ; feet to walk along 
the narrow roads and over the green fields, to 
climb the hills and to wade in the brooks ; and 
3 


4 


INTRODUCTION 


eyes to see the hundreds of wonders that city 
folks can never find. 

If you read this book you will learn how 
Trudy left her city home and went to live for 
a while with grandmother and grandfather and 
Timothy at Todd’s Ferry ; how she made 
friends with Amos, and the White Lady, and 
the Santa Claus man, and Mr. Turner who could 
make maple-sugar, and ever so many other peo- 
ple ; and what they did together. 

And when you have finished the book, I 
wonder whether you will agree with the boy 
who sped through Todd’s Ferry in the big auto- 
mobile or with Trudy and Timothy, who lived 
there ! 


Contents 


L 

Trudy Comes to Todd’s Ferry 

• 

9 

II. 

The Home-Made Christmas 



21 

III. 

The Lonesome Woods . 

• • 


35 

IV. 

School . 

• • 


47 

V. 

The Sugar-Party . 

• • 


6o 

VI. 

Going Into Business 



72 

VII. 

The Story of the Great Gale 


83 

VIII. 

Salting the Cattle 



96 

IX. 

The Little Red Farmhouse 



108 

X. 

The Door-Step Store 

• • 


119 

XI. 

The Store 

• • 


*33 

XII. 

Fourth of July 

• • 


146 

XIII. 

The Air-Ship . 

• • 


*57 

XIV. 

The Auction . 

• • 


169 

XV. 

Hallowe’en . 

• • 


181 

XVI. 

Trudy’s Home 

• • 

• 

*93 

XVII. 

Thanksgiving. 

• • 

• 

206 


5 



\ 



Illustrations 


PAGE 

The White Lady Made Sugar Cakes . Frontispiece s 

It Was Surely Santa Claus . . . . 28 ' 

“ What a Lovely, Lovely House ! ” . . .114 

All the Other Children Crowded Around 

Outside 143 

Down She Came, Very Slowly , 190 ' 


Trudy and Timothy 


7 














































t 



. 


































































i. 







Trudy and Timothy 


CHAPTER I 

TRUDY COMES TO TODD’S FERRY 

It had snowed all the day before, and all 
night, but now the sun was shining, and 
Timothy was sliding on his flexible flyer. 
Timothy lived in a big white farmhouse, on 
the side of a New Hampshire hill. The name 
of the village was Todd's Ferry, and Timothy's 
name was Todd, too. 

The road from the post-office came right up 
to the farmhouse door as if it wanted to go in, 
then remembered it must keep on to the next 
town and went away, down the hill. On the 
other side of the road was the sloping pasture 
where Susan, the cow, lived all summer. In 
winter she lived in the hay-scented barn, so 
grandfather had taken down the bars, and 
9 


IO TRUDT AND TIMOTHT 

Timothy was sliding from the door-yard, across 
the road and away down the pasture to the 
stone wall at the other side. Every time he 
dragged his sled back, he knocked on the glass 
in the door and called, “ Grandma, where do 
you s’pose she is now ? ” 

And grandmother answered, “ Perhaps she is 
in the railroad station.” 

Next time she said, “ Perhaps she is getting 
on the train,” and at last she looked at the 
clock and said, “ Oh, now she is in the way. 
The train has started ! ” 

Then Timothy shouted with joy, and jumped 
on the sled so quickly and kicked his heels so 
high that the sled was frightened and ran away, 
and tipped him out in a snow-bank. 

At the same time that Timothy was playing 
on the New Hampshire hill, a little girl was 
sitting with her father and mother in the station 
waiting-room in Boston. Her name was Ger- 
trude, and her other name was Todd, and she 
was Timothy's cousin. They had never seen 
each other, because Timothy's father and mother 
had died when he was a baby, and he had al- 


TODD'S FERRT 


1 1 

ways lived in the big white farmhouse with his 
grandfather and grandmother. Gertrude had 
lived in Boston, in a tall building with lots of 
other families, and she had never seen the 
country hills. But now she was going to visit 
grandmother and grandfather for a whole year l 
And she was going alone, too. 

Her father had worked in a dark, hot office 
in a great ugly factory, and he had worked so 
hard and so long that it had made him sick, so 
the doctor had told him that he must go to 
Florida and stay there a year. Mother was go- 
ing, too, to take care of him, but Gertrude was 
to live in New Hampshire on the farm with 
Cousin Timothy. And now they were all wait- 
ing for the train. 

At last father went out into the train shed, 
and came back, saying, “ Well, honey-bunch, 
it's time to go.” They walked down past ever 
so many cars till they found one marked “ This 
car for Todd’s Ferry,” and the brakeman swung 
Gertrude up the high step. Mother and father 
got in too, and stayed till the conductor shouted 
“ All aboard,” and then they both hugged Ger- 


12 


TRUDT AND TIMOTHY 


trade very hard, and said, “ Be a good girl and 
mind Grandma,’ 7 and hurried out of the car. 

The train began to move. Gertrude flattened 
her nose against the window and watched them, 
standing on the platform as long as she could 
see them. 

“ Tickets, please/ 7 said a voice beside her, and 
there was the conductor, waiting. 

She unfastened her new red bag and handed 
him her ticket, saying, “I want to get off at 
Todd’s Ferry, please.” 

“ I’ll remember,” he answered, “ but it's a 
long way from here, and you’d better take off 
your coat and hat and make yourself com- 
fortable. Have you any ticket for your 
child ? ” 

Gertrude thought he meant it until she saw 
his eyes twinkle, then she took Bessie-doll into 
her lap and said, “ She isn’t five years old yet.” 
He went on with a laugh that made the people 
in the car turn and look at the little girl in the 
big green seat. 

The train hurried on and on. No one paid 
any attention to Gertrude. She began to feel 


TODD'S FERRT 


J 3 

very lonely, and the tears crept into her eyes, 
but she remembered that she was a big girl, 
eight years old, much too old to cry. So she 
turned and looked out of the window. The 
train was rushing away from the houses and 
factories as fast as it could, and she saw brown 
fields with great rocks and thick green pine 
trees. Soon she saw patches of snow, and then 
a large pond, frozen over, with many children 
skating on it. There were more and more snow 
patches, and at last the fields were all white 
and sparkling in the bright sunlight. Gertrude 
saw the hills in the distance, and as she looked 
up their snowy sides, the sun shone full in her 
eyes. He winked at her, and he blinked at 
her, and he drove her tears away, and when he 
had coaxed a smile on her face, he whispered, 
“ Timothy is waiting for you, over beyond those 
hills. I can see him.” 

Then the sun, high up in the blue sky, 
looked over on the other side of the hills at 
Timothy, who was still sliding on his flexible 
flyer. And he winked at him, and he blinked 
at him, and he shouted loud at him, “ Gertrude 


TRUDY AND TIMOTHY 


14 

is coming on the train — on the rushing, hur- 
rying train. I can see her.” 

Grandmother came to the door. She called, 
“ Come, Timothy, come in now. It’s getting 
cold, and I need some more wood. Come and 
fill the wood-box.” 

Timothy did not like to fill the wood-box, 
but to-day he was so excited about his cousin 
who was coming to live with him that he for- 
got to fuss, and went back and forth between 
the shed and the kitchen until the great wood- 
box was piled high with sticks for the fire. 
Grandfather came in with two shiny tin pails 
of warm milk. Behind him trotted Dilly, 
the cat, ready for her supper of froth from 
the milk pails. She sat down under the sink 
by her saucer, and waited while grandmother 
strained the milk. Grandfather and Timothy 
washed their hands, and when the sun had 
gone to bed behind the mountain, grandmother 
and grandfather and Timothy and Dilly all 
sat in the warm pleasant kitchen, waiting for 
the stage which would bring Gertrude from the 
train. 


TODD'S FERRY 


Gertrude and Bessie-doll had watched the 
sun slide down behind the mountain too, and 
there were long, long shadows on the ground 
when they left the train. 

“ Todd’s Ferry — Todd’s Ferry,” shouted the 
brakeman. Gertrude hurried through the car 
and out onto the platform. The conductor 
helped her down the steps and said good-bye. 
The train puffed away. She looked about her. 
There were a few men on the platform, and a 
crowd of big boys and girls who had come up 
on the train from the high school, a few sta- 
tions below. 

A fat, jolly man in a shaggy fur coat came 
toward Gertrude. 

“ Are you the little girl that’s going to Jonas 
Todd’s ? ” he asked. 

“ I’m going to my Grandfather Todd’s,” said 
Gertrude. “ It’s where my Cousin Timothy 
lives.” 

“ You’re the girl, all right. Come on now. 
I’ve got something in the stage your grandma’am 
sent to keep you warm.” 

Gertrude followed him to a covered sleigh 


TRUDT AND TIMOTHY 


16 

that stood by the platform. He reached in and 
from the back seat took a warm shawl, wrapped 
Gertrude and Bessie-doll in it, and put them in 
the sleigh, on a buffalo robe. Then he tucked 
them all in tight with another buffalo robe. 

“ There now,” he said, “ if we meet Jack Frost 
on the way, he can't find you.” 

In a minute Gertrude heard a great banging 
and knocking as he strapped her trunk on the 
rack behind, threw a bag of mail in front, and 
climbed into his seat. 

“ Git-ap, git-ap,” he shouted. The horses 
started, and they went swiftly over the smooth 
snow. The road lay between thick woods, but 
in the open spaces Gertrude could look up 
and see the stars. She thought there were a 
great many more stars in the country than in 
the city, but the driver told her it was because 
there were no street lights in the country to 
blind her eyes. 

They stopped at the post-office to leave the 
mail, and when he jumped into the sleigh 
again, Gertrude leaned forward and spoke to 
him. 


TODD'S FERRT 


1 7 


“ Do you know my Cousin Timothy ? ” 

My — how he laughed ! “ Know Timothy ? 
I should say I did I Everybody in town knows 
Timothy Todd and Lamey.” 

“ Who is Lamey ? ” asked Gertrude, but he 
was shouting “ Git-ap, git-ap ” to the horses, 
and did not hear her. Up the hill they went, 
along the road that wanted to live at Grand- 
father Todd's, till it brought them right to the 
door. 

Timothy heard the bells first. 

“ She’s coming ! She’s coming ! ” he cried. 

“ Whoa,” called the driver. 

Grandfather went to the door. 

“ Hullo, Jonas,” said the driver. “ I’ve 
brought you a boarder.” 

Grandfather lifted Gertrude, Bessie-doll and 
grandmother’s shawl out from the nest of buffalo 
robes and handed the whole bundle to grand- 
mother. 

“ Well, here’s my little girl ! Timothy, here 
she is — here’s Gertrude.” 

Gertrude saw a little boy with thick red- 
brown hair, who peeked at her over the edge of 


1 8 TRUDT 4ND TIMOTHT 

the table. His blue eyes were very wide open, 
and his hands twisted the buttons on his brown 
suit. Timothy saw a yellow-haired girl in a 
black coat with a wide blue collar, and a tight 
little black hat with a blue bow on the side. 
They looked at each other while grandfather 
and the driver carried the trunk up-stairs. 
Grandmother went too, to show them where to 
put it. 

“ I know what your name is,” said Timothy. 

“ I know yours too. It’s Timothy.” 

“ Yours is Trudy.” 

“ No, sir — it's Gertrude.” 

“Well, perhaps it’s Gertrude when you're 
home, but up here it's Trudy. Lamey an' I de- 
cided to-day that your name would be Trudy.” 

Gertrude wondered again who Lamey was, 
but before she could ask, grandmother and 
grandfather came back, and they had supper. 
Timothy went to bed right after supper, and 
grandmother took Gertrude up-stairs. The bed 
was very broad and very high, and when Ger- 
trude climbed into it she sank down and down 
among the feathers until she thought she would 


TODD'S FERRT 


19 

never stop. After grandmother had heard her 
say her prayers, and kissed her, and had taken 
away the lamp, Gertrude was sure she was going 
to cry. But before the tears could come, the 
Sandman tiptoed through the room, and almost 
in a minute it was morning. 

“ Wake up, wake up, Trudy," called Timothy 
up the stairs. “ Breakfast's all ready, and Lamey 
wants to make your 'quaintance." 

“ Run across the hall, dear, and dress in the 
warm room," said grandmother. 

Gertrude looked all about the kitchen when 
she came down to breakfast, but there was 
nothing there except the cat, and grandmother 
said her name was Dilly. She looked out the 
glass panes in the door. There was Timothy, 
racing across the snow with his sled. On the 
sled was a box, and in the box stood something 
brown and feathery. He saw her and capered 
up to the door-stone, bringing the sled around 
with a great flourish. 

“Good-morning," he shouted, “ good-morn- 
ing, Cousin Trudy ! Here's Lamey, come to 
see you this fine morning." 


20 


TRUDY AND TIMOTHY 


He stooped and lifted Lamey from the box. 

“ Say hullo to your Cousin Trudy, Lamey 
dear,” he cooed, stroking her neck. 

“ Quawk — qua-a-a-awk,” said Lamey. 

Lamey — was — a — hen I 


CHAPTER II 


THE HOME-MADE CHRISTMAS 

Gertrude soon learned that Lamey was not 
the only hen on the farm. In the barn lived 
more than a hundred other hens, and grand- 
father said that in the spring there would be 
three or four hundred chickens. Some of the 
hens were brown, like Lamey, and some were 
speckled and gray. Susan, the old cow, lived 
in the barn too, and Daisy, the young cow, and 
Jack, the horse, who took grandfather to the 
store when he went after grain. Lamey had 
been bitten in the leg by a skunk one night. 
Grandfather had frightened the skunk away, 
and brought Lamey into the kitchen. Here 
she had lived behind the stove until she was 
well again, but she could never run as before. 
She hopped along with a funny little skip, so 
Timothy named her Lamey. She had grown 
21 


22 


TRUDT AND TIMOTHY 


tame in the house, and would let Timothy do 
almost anything with her. 

Gertrude’s mother had said that she was to go 
to school with her cousin, but it really seemed 
like vacation. No one spoke of school at all. 

“ Don’t they have school in the country ? ” 
she asked one day. 

“ Of course,” said Timothy, “ but the fall term 
is over, and the spring term hasn’t begun.” 

Grandmother explained that the houses were 
so far apart, and the snow so deep that all the 
children could not get to the schoolhouse in the 
coldest weather, and the terms were different 
from those in the city. So Trudy and Timothy 
had little to do except to play and get ac- 
quainted. When Gertrude could not under- 
stand why hens had to have chicken-cake baked 
for them, Timothy was very scornful. 

“ How do you s’pose we’d fatten those chickens 
for market if they didn’t have the right things 
to eat ? ” he asked. 

But when Gertrude asked him what street 
and number his house was, he didn’t know what 
she meant. “We just live on the back road,” 


THE HOME-MADE CHRISTMAS 23 

he said. “ Everybody knows Mr. Todd’s house.” 
Gertrude tried to tell him about the miles of 
houses in the city streets, all numbered, but he 
would not listen, and soon they were almost 
quarreling. Grandfather was resting in the red 
rocking-chair. He called them to him. 

“ You sit on one arm, Trudy,” he said, u and 
Timothy on the other. Now let me tell you 
something. You must not quarrel about the 
city and the country. Trudy knows things that 
Timothy doesn’t, and Timothy knows things 
that Trudy doesn’t. But grandfather knows 
that city and country are very different, yet we 
couldn’t get along without either. I live in the 
country and raise chickens, and folks in the 
city buy them, so we help each other. And 
pretty soon I’m going to the station with a box 
of them — who wants to go ? ” 

“ I do — I do ! ” cried Timothy. 

“ I do — I do I ” cried Trudy. 

So they all went out to the barn, and Timothy 
held the shafts while grandfather backed Jack 
into the sleigh, and Trudy tried to drag the 
heavy buffalo robe from the seat. 


TRUDT AND TIMOTHY 


24 

At the station they drove to the platform 
where Trudy had met the stage-driver. She 
saw him now, sitting on a baggage-truck. 

“ Hullo, Red-top/' he shouted, and Timothy 
turned red in the face. 

“What does he call you that for?” asked 
Gertrude. 

“ That’s what his name ought to be — Tim- 
othy’s grass and Red-top’s grass — and his top is 
red enough, ain’t it ? ” 

Timothy pulled his brown cap down over his 
red hair. The men on the platform laughed, 
but Gertrude thought they were rude. One 
tall, thin man got up from his seat and walked 
over to Timothy, patting him on the shoulder. 
“ Never you mind, sonny,” he said ; “ it’s better 
to have red hair than none at all.” Then how 
they laughed at the man who had tried to 
plague Timothy, because, you see, he was very, 
very bald. 

“ Oh, Amos,” cried Timothy, “ when did you 
get back ? See, Amos, here’s my Cousin Trudy. 
She’s living at our house.” 

“Is that so? ’’said Amos Bean. “Ain’t she 


THE HOME-MADE CHRISTMAS 25 

a fat little girl ? Most as fat as your chickens. 
Guess you feed her on chicken-cake, too, don’t 
you ? Goin’ to have her for Christmas dinner?” 

“ I guess not,” replied grandfather, putting 
his arm around her. “ She’s too good to eat.” 

The box of chickens was all weighed now, so 
they drove away in a hurry because it was al- 
most train time and Jack-horse was afraid of the 
cars. They stopped at the post-office on the way 
home, and grandfather asked for the mail. 

“ Here’s a card for Miss Gertrude Todd,” said 
the postmaster ; “ does that go to your house ? ” 

“ It’s mine ! ” cried Gertrude. “ Oh, goody — 
goody ! ” 

It was a postal card from Florida, and there 
was one for Timothy, too, and one for grand- 
father, and a fat letter for grandmother. 

Trudy’s card was a picture of oranges growing 
on the trees, and Timothy’s showed a big alliga- 
tor, with a little boy standing on his back, and 
driving him with reins like a horse. Timothy 
almost wished that Lamey would turn into an 
alligator. On the cards it said, “ Don’t forget 
that Christmas is coming. Watch for Santa 


26 TRUDT AND TIMOTHT 

Claus — it is just the place to see him— in the 
woods.” 

“ It is almost Christmas, isn’t it ? ” said Trudy. 
“ If I was home I’d be buying Christmas pres- 
ents and ornaments for my tree. There isn’t a 
ten-cent store here, so we can’t get any.” 

“ We do have a Christmas tree, don’t we, 
grandma ? ” said Timothy. 

“ Of course. This is the place where Christ- 
mas trees grow. And we can do the way I used 
to when I was a little girl, before there were any 
ten-cent stores. We can make all the orna- 
ments.” 

“ And the wreaths, too ? ” 

“ Certainly. The wreaths grow on the ground 
under the snow. If you hunt in the woods, you 
will find sheltered places with beautiful ever- 
green running over the ground. You and Tim- 
othy can gather some, and we will make a 
wreath for every window.” 

Across the sloping meadow, up on the side 
of the hill that climbed to the mountain, Ger- 
trude had seen whitey-brown piles of something. 
Grandfather told her they were boards, and in 


THE HOME-MADE CHRISTMAS 27 

the spring men would come and build a house 
there. A wood road led from the pasture to the 
piles of boards. It was along this road that the 
evergreen grew thickest, so Trudy and Timothy 
went there one day to gather their wreaths. 

“ I never picked Christmas wreaths before,” 
she told him. “ At home we buy them in a 
store or out of a push-cart. This is ever so much 
more fun.” 

“ There are lots of Christmas trees here, too. 
This would be a good place for Santa Claus to 
get some.” 

“ Wouldn't it be great if we could see him ? ” 

They ran about, pulling long strings from the 
ground. Suddenly Trudy stood quite still. 
“ Listen ! ” she whispered. 

Timothy listened. “ It’s only a deer,” he said ; 
“ he’ll run away.” 

Trudy had never seen a deer, so they crept 
softly, softly through the trees toward the noise. 

“ Oh ! ” breathed Trudy. 

“ Gee ! ” said Timothy. 

There, feeling of a beautiful, thick Christmas 
tree, stood Santa Claus himself! He did not see 


28 


TRUDY AND TIMOTHY 


them. But they saw him. They saw his jolly 
red face. They saw his snowy white hair. They 
saw his curly white beard. To be sure, he wore 
a fur coat, instead of his red and white suit, and 
there were no reindeer in sight, but it was surely 
Santa Claus. They had seen his picture often 
enough to know. 

They scarcely breathed, until, without look- 
ing at them, he slowly walked away, fingering 
tree after tree. 

“ He is picking out his Christmas trees,” 
whispered Trudy. 

“ Let's hunt and see if we can find his rein- 
deer.” 

They looked all about in the woods, and 
searched the snow for tracks, but could not find 
any. 

When they came racing home with the ever- 
green, they shouted the wonderful news. 

“ We have seen Santa Claus ! He was picking 
Christmas trees ! Does he live here ? ” 

“ Probably he was looking around to see if you 
were good children,” remarked grandfather, with 
a glance at the empty wood-box. Timothy ran 





IT WAS SURELY SANTA CLAUS 
















































































































THE HOME-MADE CHRISTMAS 29 

to the shed and in a jiffy the box was full. 
After supper Trudy wiped the dishes. 

There were secrets in the farmhouse during 
the next few days. While grandfather and 
Timothy were hammering on a — something — in 
the barn, grandmother and Trudy were sewing 
on a — something — in the kitchen. And one 
day when grandfather and grandmother went 
to ride Trudy and Timothy made some match- 
scratchers and calendars. It was dark very 
early now, and the evenings were long. But 
what good times they all had in the farmhouse 
kitchen ! Grandmother spread newspapers over 
the table-cloth, and they all made wreaths for 
the windows, with a big one for the glass pane 
in the door. In some of them they put branches 
of pine with tiny brown cones on them, and in 
the door-wreath were some red partridge berries 
that grandfather had found under the snow. 

Then grandmother made flour paste and 
hunted up pieces of shiny bright-colored paper. 
These they cut in strips and pasted into rings, 
.looping each one into the one before it, until 
they had long glittering chains. Grandfather 


TRUDT AND TIMOTHT 


3 ° 

popped corn, and they strung that, with now 
and then a red cranberry. Not all the pop-corn 
went on the strings, though — some of it went 
into two little red mouths. 

The day before Christmas grandfather brought 
home a tree. It looked almost exactly like the 
one they had seen Santa Claus feeling of. He 
set it up in the sitting-room, near the fireplace, 
where it would be convenient for Santa Claus 
when he came down the chimney. 

Every day the children had hunted in the 
woods, but they had not seen Santa Claus again. 
Once they found Amos Bean setting his traps. 
They told him about it. 

“ You won’t see him now,” said Amos. “ This 
is his busy time. Why, he may be away down 
in Florida, where Trudy’s mother and father 
are, or out West somewhere. I guess he’ll be 
back here Christmas Eve.” 

Trudy and Timothy worked all the afternoon 
trimming the tree, and the paper chains and 
strings of pop-corn looked very grand indeed. 
Then they hung on their presents for grand- 
mother and grandfather. There was a calendar 


THE HOME-MADE CHRISTMAS 31 

with “ Grandmother from Trudy ” on it, and 
a match-scratcher with “ Grandfather from 
Trudy.” And there was a calendar with 
“ Grandfather from Timothy ” and a match- 
scratcher with “ Grandmother from Timothy.” 
They hung the wreaths in the windows and the 
door. While they were eating supper Trudy 
said that a home-made Christmas was ever so 
much better than “ a boughten one.” 

“ Now, children, you must scamper to bed. 
And whatever you hear, don't peek, will you ? 
Because this is Santa Claus' own night, and he 
is dreadfully rushed, and doesn't like to be dis- 
turbed.” 

They both promised grandmother, but it was 
such hard work to go to sleep. Their eyes 
would not stay shut. They heard every creak 
of the boards, snapping in the cold. They heard 
the little mice, running about in the walls. 
They heard grandmother, walking in the rooms 
below. Then, after everything had been quiet a 
long time, they heard bells ! 

“ Timothy,” called Trudy softly, “ do you hear 
him?” 


3 2 


TRUDT AND TIMOTHY 


“ It might be grandfather, 1 ” said Timothy, 
“ but we can tell, because if it’s grandfather, 
he'll say ‘ Whoa/ ” 

They listened and listened. The bells came 
nearer. They stopped before the house. There 
wasn’t a single sound — nobody said a word ! 
Only in a little while the bells jingled away ! 

“ It was Santa Claus ! He’s been — he’s been ! ” 
whispered Trudy loudly. “ Oh, Timothy, don’t 
you wish it was morning? ” 

Very early, before it was light, they woke. 
They hurried down to the kitchen where they 
had hung their stockings. And there they were, 
brimming full, and all bumpy with some heavy 
round things. Timothy pulled his out first. 

“ Oranges ! ” 

“ Santa Claus did go to Florida, just as Amos 
said, didn’t he? ” 

And he must have, for, besides the oranges in 
the stockings, they found a great box of them in 
the shed that wasn’t there the day before. He 
had loaded the tree with packages, too. Toys 
and games, two new dresses for Bessie-doll, a 
pair of cuff-buttons for grandfather, a pin for 


THE HOME-MADE CHRISTMAS 33 

grandmother — oh, there were so many lovely 
things ! And then there was the something 
that was made in the barn, which turned out to 
be a doll-house for Trudy, and the something 
that was made in the kitchen, which was a warm 
cape and cap for Lamey to wear when she had 
her rides on the flexible flyer ! It took all the 
forenoon to really see everything there was on 
that wonderful tree. 

For dinner there was a fat chicken, and such 
a beautiful “ moreish ” pudding. Timothy was 
sighing with content when he remembered 
Lamey. 

“ Oh, dear,” he cried, “ I forgot poor Lamey. 
She hasn’t had a bit of a Christmas dinner.” 

“ Did you look in her house ? ” asked grand- 
father. 

Timothy had made a house for Lamey in the 
shed, out of an old box. He pretended that 
she lived there, and had fixed a make-believe 
t telephone for her so she wouldn’t be lone- 
* some. 

“ Why don’t you call her up? ” asked grand- 
mother. 


TRUDT AND TIMOTHY 


34 

Timothy went to the wall and took up a 
spool that hung from a hook. 

“ Hello,” he called. “ Hello — is this Lamey ? 
. . . How are you, Lamey, dear? . . . 
I’ll be out pretty soon and give you a nice 
Christmas dinner.” 

A funny squawky voice sounded in the room. 
“ I'm eating my nice Christmas dinner now, 
Timothy. Come out and see me.” 

Timothy looked at Trudy. Trudy looked at 
Timothy. They ran to the shed. Grand- 
mother followed them to the door, and grand- 
father stood looking over her shoulder. 

There was Lamey, walking slowly around a 
tiny tree, about a foot high, and reaching up 
to peck off bits of chicken-cake and kernels of 
corn that were scattered over the branches. 

“ Why — why ” — squealed Timothy, “ Santa 
Claus brought Lamey a Christmas tree too, 
didn't he? ” 

Lamey did not look at them, but the funny 
squawky voice came again. “ Yes, yes,” it 
said, “ and a dinner on the tree. I like my 
corn before it is popped.” 


CHAPTER III 


THE LONESOME WOODS 

Bill, the big boy who worked at the store, 
drove into the door-yard a few days after 
Christmas. He brought some groceries for 
grandmother, and a heavy package. 

“ Here’s an express package for Gertrude and 
Timothy Todd,” he said. 

“ What do you suppose it is ? ” asked Timo- 
thy, lifting it. “ It’s awful heavy.” 

“ Something from father — something nice,” 
answered Trudy. “ Let’s open it quick.” 

Bill wanted to see what it was himself, so he 
waited while Trudy picked at the knots and 
Timothy tore off the paper. 

“ Oh — oh — oh,” cried Trudy. “ Skates — 
double-runner skates ! ” 

Timothy sat down on the floor and began 
to put his on at once. “ They fit all right. 
Come on, let’s go out and try them. Grandma, 
35 


36 TRUDT AND TIMOTHT 

may we ride down to the village with Bill and 
go skating on the pond ? ” 

But grandmother thought that such a little 
boy and girl should try new skates nearer home, 
so Bill rode away alone. Trudy and Timothy 
went down behind the barn, where there was a 
wee bit of a pond in a low swampy place. But 
the ice was smooth and slippery, and they were 
soon skating back and forth, growing bolder 
with each stroke. 

In a little while Timothy climbed up to the 
barn, and came back with Lamey under his 
arm. 

“ I’m going to teach Lamey to slide,” he said. 

But Lamey decided she did not care to learn. 
She would not take a step on the ice, but stood 
perfectly still. Timothy could not coax her to 
move. At last he grew angry, and began to 
push her. Poor Lamey slipped and slid, and 
tried to run from this strange and frightful 
place. Then she sprawled more than ever, and 
fell on her side, and squawked dreadfully with 
terror. She looked so funny, and Timothy was 
so cross, shouting at her and chasing her and 


THE LONESOME WOODS 37 

trying to catch her, that Gertrude laughed and 
laughed. There was so much noise that they 
did not hear steps on the snow behind them. 

“ I don’t believe Lamey cares much about 
skating. Suppose you put her back in the barn 
and go for a walk with me? ” 

“ Oh, Amos,” shouted the children. “ Did 
grandmother say we could go?” 

Amos nodded. “ She’s fixing some luncheon 
for us now. You see I have been mending her 
closet door and working pretty hard, and I 
thought now I needed some play.” 

Lamey had finally scrambled to her feet and 
run back to the barn. The children showed 
Amos their new skates, and then they all went 
into the house. Grandmother put sweaters 
under their coats, buttoned on their long gaiters 
and pulled their stocking caps down over their 
ears. Amos took the bundle of luncheon. 

“ Bring them back before the sun gets too 
low, won’t you, Amos?” called grandmother as 
they crossed the road to the meadow. 

“ Where are we going? ” asked Trudy. 

“ In the woods, of course,” replied Timothy ; 


3 8 TRUDY AND TIMOTHY 

“ that's where Amos always goes. Amos knows 
everything about woods. He can do anything 
too, can’t you, Amos ? ” 

Amos laughed a little. 

“ Won’t it be lonesome in the woods? ” Trudy 
said, looking up at the big mountain. 

Then Amos laughed a great deal. 

“ We’ll see what you think about that when 
we get home.” 

The snow was hard and firm. Amos called 
it a “ crust,” and they walked on it easily. At 
the farther edge of the meadow were several 
apple trees with frozen apples hanging brown 
and withered. 

“ Chk-chk-chk-chk-chk-chk,” sounded over 
Trudy’s head, so loud and angry that she 
jumped with fright. 

“ That’s only a red squirrel, afraid we’re going 
to steal his dinner of apples. There he goes — 
see him ? ” 

Trudy’s city eyes were not quick enough to 
find Mr. Red Squirrel as he scampered away, 
but Timothy saw him at once. Farther in the 
wood they heard “ Chick-a-dee-dee-dee,” and 


THE LONESOME WOODS 39 

turned off the wood road to find him. This 
time Trudy was quicker and she called to Amos, 
“ Oh, there he is ! I see him — why, lie's falling 
— he's hanging with his head down." 

Timothy was dreadfully scornful. “ My, 
aren't girls stupid ! Don't you know chicka- 
dees can turn somersaults ? " 

Amos took a paper from his pocket, unfolded 
it, and hung a piece of pinky-white stuff to the 
branch of a tree. 

“ What's that ? " asked Trudy, turning away 
from Timothy. 

“ Suet — for chickadee that's calling to us, and 
any of his sisters or his cousins or his aunts. 
It’s pretty hard for the birds to get enough to 
eat in winter, so I help them all I can." 

Timothy had run ahead and was looking 
sharply at the ground. He called them now, 
and they hurried to see what he had found. At 
the foot of a birch tree the snow crust was 
covered with fresh chips of wood. “ Hullo," 
said Amos, “ Mr. Woodpecker thinks of build- 
ing a bedroom, doesn't he? Well, we’ll give 
him some supper, too." And he hung another 


TRUDY AND TIMOTHY 


40 

piece of suet on this tree. He showed Trudy 
the hole in the trunk, and told her that a bird 
had done it with his sharp bill to have a warm 
place to sleep. Later they heard a tap-tap-tap- 
ping and Trudy saw a woodpecker at work. 

Now they were on the road that led to the 
lumber piles that Trudy had seen from home. 
Amos proposed that they should go up there 
where there was a warm sunny spot and eat 
their lunch. They sat on the piles of boards and 
ate the sandwiches and doughnuts that grand- 
mother had given them. Trudy was thirsty, 
but Timothy said they would have to wait till 
they found a spring, because there wasn’t any 
house where they could get a drink. But Amos 
said, “ Perhaps we can fix that, Timothy. See 
if you can find some dry twigs.” 

Timothy soon came back with an armful of 
dry, brittle wood. Amos made a pile, took the 
paper that the suet had been wrapped in, found 
a match in his vest pocket, and — there was a 
blazing little fire ! He took a tin cup from his 
pocket, filled it with snow, and when the fire 
had died down, set the cup in the hot ashes. 


THE LONESOME WOODS 41 

The snow melted, he put the cup in a snow 
bank to cool the water, and Trudy had her 
drink. 

“ Didn't I tell you Amos could do any- 
thing?" proudly said Timothy. 

Far away they heard cries that came nearer. 
Men were calling, “ Whoa — back there — easy 
now," and every few minutes they heard a long 
shrill squeak. “Hullo," said Amos, “ I shouldn't 
wonder if we were going to have company." 
He winked at Timothy. “ Guess Trudy won’t 
be so very lonesome, after all." 

They went back into the road and looked up 
the hill. Four horses were coming slowly down, 
dragging a great sledge, with broad runners that 
squeaked over the hard snow. On the sledge 
were ever so many tree trunks, piled up between 
strong stakes and held by heavy chains. Be- 
hind the sledge came another and another. The 
man who was driving shouted at them, “ Look 
out — get out of the road." 

Amos swung Trudy up on a pile of boards, 
where she would be safe, yet could see every- 
thing. Timothy scrambled up beside her. Amos 


TRUDT AND TIMOTHY 


42 

stood by them. The sledge came slowly down 
the road. The driver tugged at the reins and 
stopped on a level spot to rest the horses. 

“ Well, well/ 7 he said, “ if this isn’t the little 
girl that had a ride with me in November.” 

It was the stage-driver ! 

Trudy was very much surprised to see him 
away up in the woods, but he told her that in 
winter, when there were not many people riding 
on the stage, he hired a man to drive it for him, 
and he worked in the woods logging. He had 
nine horses, and it was not good for them to 
stand all winter in the barn, so he used them to 
drag the logs from where they were cut to the 
mill, where they would be sawed into boards 
like those Trudy was standing on. 

“ Take the kids up and let ’em see the boys 
chop, Amos,” he called as the horses started, 
“that is, if you haven’t got to go back to 
work.” 

Trudy did not like the way he laughed when 
he said that. It was really a very unkind thing 
to say, because every one knew that Amos had 
no work to go to. All the grown folks thought 


THE LONESOME WOODS 43 

Amos was lazy, because he did not work like 
other people. In the summer he did odd jobs 
for several families who spent their vacations at 
Todd’s Ferry, but even then he would not work 
unless he felt just like it. Trudy wanted him 
to know she liked him, whether he worked or 
not, so she slid her little hand into his big one, 
saying softly, “ Mr. Amos, will you take me up 
to see them chop ? ” She did not exactly know 
what “ chop ” meant, but she wanted to get as 
far away from the stage-driver as possible. 

Up the road they climbed, slipping on the 
smooth sledge tracks, till they heard talking 
close by. Just around the turn they saw the 
men. And then Trudy learned what “ chop- 
ping ” meant ! For instead of grand, tall trees, 
growing thickly together, she saw broad yellow 
stumps. Around them were tangles of green 
branches, all cut off and left anyhow on the 
ground. They looked like carpets of Christmas 
trees. The great trees lay on the ground, too, 
their limbs all cut away. One tree had just 
fallen and men stood along its trunk, hacking 
at the branches with sharp axes. Around another 


TRUDT AND TIMOTHT 


44 

tree stood more men, swinging axes that glit- 
tered in the sunlight. 

“ Watch that tree,” said Amos. 

Up and down — up and down — went the axes. 
Then the men took a long two-handled saw, and 
sawed and sawed through the tree. Back and 
forth — back and forth — went the saw. A man 
shouted. They all sprang back and stood waiting. 
The tall tree shook and trembled. Then it leaned 
a little away from the men who had cut it. 
Farther it leaned — farther — farther — until it fell 
with a loud crash, and the earth jarred under 
Trudy’s feet. She hid her face in Amos’s coat. 
“ I don’t like it,” she sobbed ; “ I want to go 
home. I don’t want to see the poor trees killed.” 
But Timothy’s eyes shone, and he called her a 
cry-baby. He ran to the fallen tree and climbed 
up on the stump. 

Amos explained to Trudy that men needed 
the trees to make houses to live in. He told 
her, too, that unless some of the trees were cut, 
there would be no room for the young trees to 
grow. The old ones would crowd them out, and 
when the old ones died there would be only 


THE LONESOME WOODS 45 

weak, useless little ones. Still she did not want 
to see another one fall, so, as the sun was getting 
low, Amos called Timothy and they started 
home. They met the stage-driver coming back 
with the empty sledge, but Trudy would not 
speak to him. They did not go home on the 
wood road, but straight across the fields and 
pastures. They could see the smoke from grand- 
father’s chimney, and they walked straight 
toward that. A fox barked at them and ran for 
his hole. Soon after they met a man with a gun. 

“ Did you see that fox? ” he said. “ He got 
three of my chickens last night, and now I’d 
like to get him.” 

“ Over that wall, Jacob,” replied Amos, “ but 
you won’t get him to-night. Better come along 
home with us.” 

“ I guess this is Jonas’s little granddaughter, 
isn’t it ? ” said Mr. Turner as he walked along 
with them. “ My farm is just above your 
grandfather’s. You must come over and see 
me some day. Timothy, you bring her over in 
sugaring time. We’ll have some sugar-cakes on 
the snow.” 


46 TRUDT AND TIMOTHY 

Mr. Turner was a jolly little man, with a 
funny round face and a bald head. Trudy 
liked him at once and said she would be glad 
to come and see him with Timothy. 

The sun was waiting right on the edge of the 
mountain to see if they reached home safely, 
and when he saw grandmother open the door 
for them he went to bed in a hurry. 

“ Supper’s all ready,” said grandmother. 
“ There is a plate for Amos, and I’ve made hot 
biscuits, and there’s honey, too. Did you have 
a good time? ” 

“ Oh, it was splendid,” sighed Trudy. “ I 
never had such a lovely time in all my life.” 

“Too bad it was so lonesome,” said Amos 
soberly. 

Trudy ran to him and tried to shake him. 
“ I’ll never say the woods are lonesome again,” 
she declared. “ Why, there was somebody or 
something to see every single minute 1 ” 


CHAPTER IV 


SCHOOL 

Away down in Florida Trudy’s mother was 
reading aloud to Trudy’s father, when suddenly 
she stopped and put down the book. 

“ What is the matter ? ” asked father. 

“ I was thinking about Gertrude, away up in 
the snow. I hope she is not lonesome, all this 
long winter, without us.” 

While father and mother were sitting under 
the green trees, listening to the birds and 
talking about Gertrude, she was watching the 
feathery snowflakes float past the kitchen win- 
dow. It was eight o’clock in the morning, and 
the first day of school. 

Grandfather was in the barn, harnessing Jack- 
horse to the sleigh, to take Trudy and Timothy 
to the schoolhouse. 

“ I don’t think this is much like spring,” 
47 


48 TRUDY AND TIMOTHY 

said Trudy. “ What makes them call it a 
spring term ? ” 

“ It will be spring before the term ends,” re- 
plied Timothy. “ It's almost time for sap to 
run now. Come on, here’s Gramp.” 

Jack-horse stamped around the corner of the 
house. Timothy snatched a tin pail from the 
table and dashed out the door. Grandmother 
handed another pail to Trudy. 

“ Here’s your dinner, dear. Now be a good 
girl, and make friends with everybody.” 

“ Don’t we come home to dinner? ” 

“ Oh, no, it is too far. Grandpa will come 
for you as long as it is cold, but later you 
and Timothy can walk home when school is 
over.” 

Timothy was busy hitching his flyer to the 
back of the sleigh. 

“ Hop in,” said grandfather, making a place 
for them. 

“ Good-bye,” called grandmother, waving her 
apron. 

“ Good-bye — good-bye,” they shouted. “ Get 
up,” said grandfather, and away they went, the 


SCHOOL 


49 

sled bobbing and jumping behind the sleigh as 
if it too was glad to go to school. 

Trudy recognized the schoolhouse as soon as 
she saw it, because there was a tall flagpole in 
front of it. But it was not at all like her school 
at home. That was brick and very large, and 
it stood on a busy street, where electric cars and 
automobiles ran all day long. This schoolhouse 
was of wood, and so tiny. Why, it had only 
one room ! And it stood all by itself, in a little 
opening at the edge of a wood, and there was 
all outdoors to play in at recess. On the other 
side of the narrow road was a pond, just big 
enough for all the children to skate on, and the 
road itself was hilly and made just the best 
kind of a slide. There was nothing to watch 
out for either, because very few teams passed on 
this road in winter. 

Trudy decided she should like Miss Fields, 
the teacher, very much. She was so pretty 
and smiled so happily when grandfather said, 
“ Here’s a new little girl, Miss Fields — a little 
city girl come to learn how nice the country is.” 

When the children came in, Trudy was sur- 


TRUDT AND TIMOTHT 


5 ° 

prised again. There were only fourteen pupils 
— eight boys and six girls. Three girls were 
about as old as Trudy, but two must have been 
thirteen or fourteen. It was so strange. It 
really seemed like playing school. Not until 
they stood up and gave the familiar salute to 
the flag did Trudy begin to feel at home. Miss 
Fields called her up to the desk and asked her 
about her lessons. Then she gave her some 
books and told her what to study. 

At recess time Trudy expected that Timothy 
would come and play with her, and perhaps 
give her a slide on the flexible flyer as he did 
at home, but he did not even look at her. 
With a whoop and a shout he raced away with 
the other boys to coast. Trudy stood alone, 
feeling a little bit bashful, until Miss Fields 
took her hand and led her up to the other girls. 
“ Take Gertrude out and show her your nice 
slide,” she said. 

Belle Perkins was putting on her skates. 
“ I’ll take care of her, Miss Fields,” she said,. 
“ Gertrude, you come with me.” 

“ Oh,” said Trudy, for Belle was no bigger 


SCHOOL 


5 1 

than herself, “ can you skate on single skates ? 
Mine are double-runners. My father sent them 
to me after Christmas, but I can’t skate very 
well yet.” 

“ Bring them to-morrow, will you ? ” cried 
May Barnes. “ We’ve got a dandy place to 
skate, and we’ll teach you.” 

“ Can you speak any pieces ? ” asked Belle. 
“ We’re going to have an entertainment in the 
Town Hall on Washington’s Birthday. The 
school is going to give it to raise money to buy 
a flag. Perhaps Miss Fields will let you speak 
a piece if you know any. And we’re going to 
have some tableaux too — scenes from the life 
of Washington ” 

“ I have a Martha Washington costume. I 
had it for our dancing-school party. It’s a 
pink dress with a long skirt, and a flowered 
waist and over-skirt, and I had my hair all 
done up in puffs and powdered with starch.” 

Belle and May seized her by the hands and 
rushed her into the schoolhouse. 

“ Teacher — teacher,” they gasped, “ she’s 
been to dancing-school, and she’s got a Martha 


TRUDT AND TIMOTHY 


52 

Washington dress ! Can she be in the enter- 
tainment ? ” 

“ Of coarse she may. That will be very nice.” 

“ I did the minuet in that costume,” said 
Trudy shyly. 

Miss Fields thought a minute. 

“ Stand beside her, Belle. Yes, you are al- 
most the same height. Perhaps if your mother 
would be willing to make you a costume like 
Gertrude’s we could get two of the boys, and 
learn the minuet for part of the entertainment. 
We should have to send for the music 

“ Oh, Miss Fields, the music is with my cos- 
tume* — I know it is,” interrupted Trudy. 

“ And Amos and the orchestra could play ! ” 
Belle and May hopped up and down with ex- 
citement. 

On the way home Trudy talked so fast that 
grandfather said he knew he should have an 
earache. Timothy was rather jealous and had 
not much to say. He would not even play with 
Trudy till supper was ready. “ I’m going out 
to teach Lamey the s’lute to the flag,” he said 
when she asked him. 


SCHOOL 


53 

After supper when grandmother took Trudy’s 
Martha Washington costume out of the trunk 
and was looking at it, he was really sulky. He 
was so naughty that grandmother sent him to 
bed, and he stamped hard on every stair when 
he went up. “ Timothy ! ” said grandfather 
sternly. 

“ Well, I don’t care if she is going to be Mar- 
tha Washington. I’m going to be a soldier at 
Valley Forge, and have a gun, and be layin’ 
in the snow, all in rags, and have lots o’ bloody 
bandages on me, where I’ve been shot ! ” 

Later, when they began to practice the tab- 
leaux and the speaking after school, and 
Timothy found that he was going to be in 
“ Washington Crossing the Delaware ” and carry 
the flag, he wasn’t cross any more, and worked 
as hard as any of them. Every one had some- 
thing to do. Mrs. Perkins made Belle a dress 
like Trudy’s, and Mr. Perkins — he was the stage- 
driver — borrowed some guns for the soldiers at 
Valley Forge. The guns belonged to the Grand 
Army, and they were so big and heavy that the 
soldiers could not carry them, but they looked 


TRUDT AND TIMOTHT 


54 

very warlike stacked up in a corner of the 
camp. 

Trudy and Timothy could hardly wait until 
the twenty -second of February, and poor Lamey 
was drilled and marched about the barn until 
grandfather had to tell Timothy that he must 
let her alone. 

The day came though they thought it never 
would. Of course there wasn't any school, but 
in the forenoon there was a dress rehearsal in 
the Town Hall. Amos came to help fix the 
stage, and everything was confusion. The boys 
were dragging the guns around, Amos was 
sawing and pounding, the girls were all trying 
to learn the minuet from Belle and Trudy, and 
Miss Fields was almost cross. It did seem as if 
nothing went right. Everybody forgot what he 
was to do, and Trudy went home almost crying, 
she was so afraid the entertainment would be a 
failure. 

After supper it was so exciting. All the 
children were in a little room at the side of the 
stage, and they could hear the people in the hall 
talking and laughing and moving their chairs 


SCHOOL 


55 

about. Just as Miss Fields was powdering 
Trudy's hair, Amos came in to say that every- 
body in town was out in front. Timothy could 
not wait another minute. He ran onto the stage 
and peeked out with one eye at the side of the 
curtain. There was Mr. Turner, sitting in the 
very front seat, with the boys who were too small 
to go to school. Mr. Perkins was there with 
Mrs. Perkins ; grandfather and grandmother ; 
Mr. McAdam, the storekeeper, was coming in 
the door ; Bill was up back in the window-seat. 
Oh — everybody was there, as Amos said. 

Amos himself played the violin in the orches- 
tra, Miss Fields played the piano, and Belle's 
big, grown-up brother, the flute. 

At eight o'clock Miss Fields whispered, “ Now, 
children, all keep perfectly still till I come back 
again," and slipped out the door. They heard 
Amos tuning his violin, and then the orchestra 
played “ Three Cheers for the Red, White and 
Blue." While the audience was clapping Miss 
Fields slipped back again, and hurried the 
children onto the stage for the first tableau. It 
was “ Washington and the Cherry-tree." Amos 


56 TRUDY AND TIMOTHY 

had fixed a broken tree on a board : there was 
green cloth on the stage to look like grass, and 
Washington, the littlest boy in the school, stood 
by the tree with a hatchet. He was looking up 
at his father, who was Ben Dobson, a big tall 
boy. Ben was supposed to look very stern and 
severe, but he almost spoiled everything by 
laughing. Trudy was in this one too, as Wash- 
ington’s mother, with her handkerchief at her 
eyes, as if she was crying. They all stood 
exactly as Miss Fields had told them, and the 
curtain went up. They could hear Miss Fields 
whispering, “ Steady, steady — keep still,” and 
they tried as hard as ever they could, but when 
the curtain went down and the audience clapped 
so loud and so long, they all ran to her, saying, 
“ Did we do it right? Was it all right? ” 

After the first it was easier. Maud Fletcher 
and Bessie Hudson, the two big girls, sang 
a duet, the orchestra played another piece, 
“ America,” and then came “ Washington Cross- 
ing the Delaware.” Maud Fletcher played on 
the piano while they were getting the tableau 
ready. It was hard work, and all the boys had 


SCHOOL 


57 

to help Amos. They pulled a real boat on the 
stage, and there were cakes of real ice piled up 
against it, and blue cambric to look like water. 
The sailors tugged hard on the oars, as if they , 
were pulling against a raging river ; Wash- , 
ington stood in the bow, with his army cape 1 
wrapped about him, and looked straight ahead. 
Behind him stood Timothy, holding a beautiful 
silk flag that belonged to Miss Fields. The 
audience didn't wait for the curtain to go down 
on this tableau before they began to clap. They 
clapped and clapped and clapped until the cur- 
tain went up again, and then they clapped some 
more. 

The next was a recitation, and then came the 
minuet. To almost everybody this was a sur- 
prise. Miss Fields played for them, and they 
all did splendidly. No one made a mistake. 
And then they had to do it all over again. 
Every one was laughing and talking about it 
when the curtain went up on “ Washington at 
Valley Forge ! ” There wasn't any more laugh- 
ing then. The stage was dark, like night, and 
the ground was all snowy. At the back were 


5 8 TRUDY AND TIMOTHY 

the guns stacked up, and all around on the 
ground lay the soldiers in their rags and their 
bloody bandages. Some had strips of cloth about 
their feet instead of shoes. Washington, in his 
cloak, stood watching them. Timothy was in 
front, and he lay so still and looked so white 
in the dim light, and the red paint on his band- 
ages looked so much like blood that Trudy 
almost cried. It was very sad until Mr. Perkins 
whispered loudly, “ There's Red-top — I see his 
hair ! " and then every one laughed. 

The orchestra played “ The Star Spangled 
Banner," and the audience stood up and every- 
body sang, and that was the end of the enter- 
tainment. Oh, it was just grand — it made your 
heart go thump — thump ! 

All the children ran out among the audience 
now, and talked very fast and told their fathers 
and mothers all about how they did it, and 
grandmother said that Trudy and Timothy did 
very well, and Mr. Turner said that if there was 
ever another war he guessed the country would 
have some pretty good soldiers, and then Miss 
Fields announced that the orchestra would play 


SCHOOL 


59 

if any one would like to dance. And that there 
was ice-cream for sale. She called the children, 
and between the dances Trudy and Belle and 
all the rest, in their costumes, sold ice-cream. 
And although it was a very cold night, every 
one got so warm dancing that they all wanted 
some ice-cream. Mr. Perkins gave Trudy a 
quarter to pay for his, and wouldn't take any 
change, although the cream was only ten cents, 
and he said Timothy did the best of all the boys, 
so Trudy forgave him for calling him “ Bed- 
top," especially as Timothy said he didn't care. 

When the ice-cream was all sold, Miss Fields 
counted up the ticket money and the ice-cream 
money, and there was enough to buy a splendid 
big flag, and a dollar over ! 


CHAPTER V 


THE SUGAR-PARTY 

Mr. Turner was driving home from the 
station with a bag of grain in the back of the 
wagon. The roads were deep with mud, and 
the old white horse walked slowly, because she 
was tired and the grain was heavy. The wind 
was cool, but the sun, shining on Mr. Turner's 
back, was warm. He looked all around — up at 
the blue sky, down at the roads, into the woods 
on either side, and then straight ahead. There, 
bright above the dark pines, floated the beauti- 
ful new flag over the schoolhouse. Mr. Turner 
pulled on the reins and the horse started. When 
they reached the schoolhouse, Mr. Turner could 
see the tops of the children's heads through the 
windows. 

“ Whoa, Nell," he said. “ I wouldn't wonder 
if they might be expectin' us here." 

60 


THE SUGAR-PARTY 61 

He walked up to the schoolhouse and rapped 
on the door. Belle Perkins opened it. 

“How do you do, Belle? School ’most 
over ? ” 

“ Yes, Mr. Turner. Won’t you come in ? ” 

Mr. Turner took off his hat and went into the 
schoolroom. Miss Fields was reading aloud. 
She stopped. 

“ Don’t let me interrupt you,” said Mr. Turner, 
smiling. All the children were smiling at Mr. 
Turner and at each other, and Miss Fields smiled 
too. 

“ I’m sure we shall be very glad to be inter- 
rupted,” she answered, “ if your errand is what 
we think it is.” 

“ That’s about it,” replied Mr. Turner. “ I 
guess you all know what I’m going to say. 
This is pretty good sugar weather. Sap’s 
runnin’ well, and to-day is Friday. I’m think- 
ing of giving a sugar-party in my maple grove 
to-morrow afternoon, and I’d like to have you 
all come.” 

“ Children, I know we thank Mr. Turner for 
his kind invitation ; we have been to his sugar- 


62 


TRUDT AND TIMOTHY 


parties before, and know what this means. All 
who wish to accept his invitation may stand." 

The fourteen pupils jumped to their feet. 
Mr. Turner laughed a big jolly laugh. “ That's 
fine," he said. “ There's some fun having com- 
pany when folks are as glad to come as that. 
As school is nearly over, Miss Fields, perhaps 
you would let Trudy and Timothy ride up with 
me. The roads are bad for walking and I go 
right by their house." 

As they rode through the village they heard 
behind them — “ Toot — Toot — Toot ! " 

“ Look out ! " cried Trudy, turning around. 
“ There's an automobile coming ! " 

“ Automobile ! " said Timothy scornfully. 
“ Can't you tell a fish man when you hear 
him?" 

Mr. Turner drove to the side of the road to 
let the fish man pass. His name was Mr. Had- 
dock. He was a thin, sick-looking man, who 
drove a curious wagon with a box on it, like a 
trunk, where he kept his fish. 

“ Hello, Pete," shouted Mr. Turner, cheer- 
fully. “ Haven't gone West yet, have you ? " 


THE SUGAR-PAR TY 63 

“ No,” replied the fish man. “ I’m goin’ just 
as soon as I can sell out. . . . Toot — Toot — 
Toot.” And away he went. 

“ Amos would buy the fish-route if he could 
find the money,” said Mr. Turner. 

“ Oh, — oh, wouldn’t that be great ! ” exclaimed 
Timothy. “ Then I could ride round with him 
all summer.” 

“And he would give Dilly all the fish she 
could eat ! ” cried Trudy. “ Dilly loves fish.” 

“ Well,” said Mr. Turner, as they drove into 
the door-yard and Trudy and Timothy jumped 
from the wagon, “ I guess Amos won’t buy Pete 
Haddock out to-day nor to-morrow — Amos 
don’t seem to be much on money-makin’. 
Don’t forget the sugar-party, will you ? Good- 
night.” 

Saturday was bright and sunny, and much 
warmer. Soon after dinner several of the boys 
and girls called for Trudy and Timothy, and 
they all went across the fields to Mr. Turner’s 
sugar maple grove. Trudy had never been to a 
sugar-party, so she looked about very sharply, 
wondering what it would be like. She saw, 


64 TRUDT AND TIMOTHY 

among the bare trees, a small shed, built of 
rough boards. There was an iron pipe sticking 
out of the roof, and smoke ascending. 

“ He's getting ready," said Ben Dobson. “ See 
the smoke from the chimney ? ” 

Mr. Turner came to the door. He saw them 
and waved his hand, and they all ran to the 
sugar-house. Inside, on a box by the long iron 
boiler, sat Amos. All about were galvanized 
iron buckets, full of a thin white liquid. 

“ What's all the water for?” inquired Trudy. 

How they laughed at her ! 

“ It isn't water, goosey — it's sap,” said Tim- 
othy. “ Don’t you know anything? ” 

Trudy's eyes filled with tears. Ben Dobson 
saw her winking, and grasped Timothy by the 
shoulder. He gave him a shake, saying, “ I'll 
put you in a sap bucket yourself if you don't 
quit bothering her.” 

While Mr. Turner and Ben were explaining 
to Trudy how they bored holes in the trees for 
the sap to run out and then caught it in buckets 
and boiled it for a long time in the great evap- 
orator until it became thick, sweet, brown syrup, 


THE SUGAR-PARTY 65 

the other scholars and Miss Fields came. Then 
the fun began. 

Miss Fields and the girls had brought large 
spoons and forks, and they unpacked them 
while the boys, with Amos, gathered green pine 
boughs from trees that Mr. Turner had chopped 
down. He put the boughs in the furnace until 
there was a hot, hot fire. The sap boiled and 
bubbled and at last came from the faucet of the 
evaporator a rich dark brown. Then, on a little 
stove in the corner, they boiled a kettle of syrup 
until it was almost sugar. Mr. Turner and Miss 
Fields kept stirring and tasting. At last they 
called, “ All ready ! Everybody get a spoon 
and a fork, and come on ! ” 

Trudy scrambled for her spoon and her fork 
with the others, but she had no idea what to do 
with them. She learned ! All the boys and 
girls crowded around the boiling syrup. One by 
one, they came slowly away, each carrying care- 
fully a spoonful of the hot liquid. Out from the 
shed they walked, and dropped it into a clean 
snow-bank ! There was plenty of snow on the 
sheltered hillside, although the roads were wet 


66 


TRUDT AND TIMOTHY 


and muddy. When the hot syrup struck the 
cold snow, it hardened into a sticky cake that 
sank deep, melting the snow as it went. Down 
after the cakes went the forks — or sometimes 
fingers — and up came the delicious morsel, just 
right to eat ! 

As the children made more syrup-cakes, they 
were obliged to go further from the sugar-house 
to find clean snow. Timothy could run very 
fast, and he could eat very fast, and he made 
more cakes and went further away from the 
sugar-house than any one else. Just as he was 
digging a big cake out of a deep hole, he looked 
behind him. There, walking slowly toward 
him, was Santa Claus ! 

Timothy left cake and fork in the snow, and 
scampered back to find Trudy and Amos. He 
pulled them behind the sugar-house. “ Look I ” 
he gasped. 

“ It’s Santa Claus ! ” said Trudy in a whisper ; 
“ but see — who is that behind him ? ” 

Coming slowly after him was the loveliest 
lady you ever saw ! She was all white and soft, 
like a fairy. She wore a long, shaggy white 


THE SUGAR-PARTY 67 

coat and a soft white cap on her head, with a 
tassel that fell on her shoulder. Even her hair 
was white, but she was not old — oh, not at all ! 
Her face was young and smiling. She had 
brown eyes and pink cheeks. She was laughing 
and talking to Santa Claus, but stopped when 
she saw the children. She waved her hand to 
them. Santa Claus smiled. 

“ Well, well,” he said, “ what’s this? A party 
in the woods? We’re just in time. I hope you 
haven’t eaten up all the treat.” 

“ My brother and I were beginning to feel 
lonesome,” said the white lady. “ We are so 
glad to see some one.” 

Trudy and Timothy only stared at Santa 
Claus and the white lady, then looked at each 
other. 

“ What is the matter ? ” said the lady. 

Then the words came tumbling from Trudy’s 
mouth. “ Why — it’s you — he’s Santa Claus — 
we know that. We saw him in the woods just 
before Christmas, picking out his Christmas 
trees. But who are you ? Are you Mrs. Santa 
Claus ? ” 


68 


TRUDT AND TIMOTHY 


The lovely white lady stooped and put her 
arms about Trudy and Timothy. “ Little folks / 7 
she whispered, “ I am his sister. He won’t even 
tell me if he is really Santa Claus or not. He 
says his name is Mr. Johnston, and mine is Miss 
Margaret. But I think myself that perhaps he 
is Santa Claus. Sometimes I’m quite sure of it. 
You see, he looks like Santa Claus all the time ! 
And he acts like Santa Claus some of the time ! 
But he will never tell ! But one thing I know 
— he is just as good and kind as Santa Claus, 
and he loves little boys and girls dearly.” 

“ You’re nice, too,” said Trudy. “ I like you.” 

Timothy walked ahead with Amos and Mr. 
Johnston, who were talking busily, but Trudy 
went with Miss Margaret. By the time they 
reached the sugar-house Miss Margaret knew all 
about Trudy’s father and mother in Florida ; 
about Lamey ; about Amos, and how he wanted 
to buy out the fish-route, and Trudy knew that 
Mr. Johnston owned the lumber piles on the hill, 
and he and Miss Margaret were going to board 
with Mr. Turner while the house was being 
built. 


THE SUGAR-PAR TT 69 

At the sugar-house Mr. Johnston stayed with 
Mr. Turner and Amos, but the white lady made 
sugar cakes with the children. They walked 
about, hunting for clean snow. Suddenly the 
white lady gave a little cry, and pointed to the 
top of a tall bush. 

“ Oh, I wish I could get that one,” she said. 
“ It is such a splendid one.” 

They all looked. “ What is it?” said Belle. 
“ I don’t see anything but a bunch of dead 
leaves.” 

“ That isn’t a bunch of dead leaves. It is a 
cocoon.” 

“ I’ll get it,” said Ben Dobson, reaching up 
and cutting the branch off with his knife. 

“ What’s a cocoon ? ” inquired Trudy as they 
all looked at it. 

“ A little bedroom where caterpillar sleeps 
all winter, and from which he comes in the 
spring, a great beautiful moth ! ” 

The children crowded about, while the white 
lady showed them the gray mass, and told them 
how caterpillar made it by drawing the leaves 
together and fastening them with sticky silk ; 


TRUDT AND TIMOTHY 


7 ° 

how he slept, swung by the winter winds till 
he wakened when the green leaves grew, and 
came forth, a lovely winged creature I 

“ I shall keep this,” she said. “ If I had a 
cage, I could keep the branch in it, and when 
the moth comes out we could all see him.” 

“ Amos could make you a cage, I know,” said 
Timothy. 

“ Perhaps I shall find some more cocoons — 
oh ” — and the white lady clapped her hands 
— “ perhaps you all could watch and find some 
for me. There are ever so many kinds, and we 
could keep them all and watch them — we could 
make a collection ! ” 

“ Yes — yes,” cried all the children. 11 And 
Miss Fields said we might have a cage in the 
schoolhouse if there were more than you wanted, 
Miss Johnston.” 

Trudy was racing after Amos, and soon came 
back, dragging him by the hand. He agreed to 
make two cages, a small one for Miss Margaret 
and a larger one for the schoolhouse. 

The sun was setting now, so they all walked 
home together. Amos went on to the village, 


THE SUGAR-PAR TIT 71 

but Trudy and Timothy went down the hill 
road with Mr. Turner and the white lady and 
her brother. They said, “ Good-night ” at the 
door, but Trudy held Mr. Johnston back. 

“ Stoop down,” she said ; “ I want to ask you 
something.” 

He bent down to her, and she whispered in 
his ear, “ Are you really Santa Claus ? ” 

He swung her high above his head, and as he 
let her down, he said laughing, “ I've never told 
a single soul — but you watch — perhaps you can 
guess.” 


CHAPTER VI 


GOING INTO BUSINESS 

There were so many things to do every day 
that the weeks simply flew. The caterpillar 
cage which Amos made for the schoolhouse was 
only the beginning. Miss Margaret came to see 
it, and to tell the children about the cocoons 
that they had found. Her talk was such a 
success that Miss Fields asked her if she would 
not come every week and teach the scholars 
about the wonderful things in the woods and 
meadows. Every Friday afternoon she came, 
and all the days between the boys and girls 
had their eyes wide open to find curiosities to 
show her. 

In front of Miss Fields' desk were great 
bunches of pussy-willows, alder catkins and 
budding tree twigs. Timothy found the first 
Mayflowers, and carried them to Miss Margaret. 
She had never picked any, so Timothy took her 
and Trudy to the place where they grew. 

72 


GOING INTO BUSINESS 


73 

Trudy had never seen them growing, either. 
Timothy knew this, and thought it would be a 
fine chance to play a joke on them. When they 
reached the rocky, sunny slope by the brook, he 
waved his hand saying, “ There they are — now 
go ahead and pick them ! " 

Trudy and Miss Margaret looked for the flow- 
ers. All they saw were shiny green leaves, 
sprawling over the ground. “ There aren't any 
flowers," began Trudy, but Miss Margaret’s sharp 
eyes had spied a blossom. She stooped to pick 
it and there, hiding under the sheltering leaves, 
peeping out at her, were dozens of flowers. “ Oh, 
Trudy, look — they grow underneath — we must 
hunt for them." 

They soon filled their baskets, and Timothy 
took them to another place. Here there were 
so many flowers and they were so big and pink 
and fragrant that Miss Margaret sighed as she 
looked at the baskets. 

“ How the little sick children would love 
some of them," she said. “ I wish we could 

send some to the hospital " 

“ In Boston," interrupted Trudy. “Oh — I’ve 


TRUDT AND TIMOTHY 


74 

been by there in the car. You can see the beds 
by the windows, and the nurses walking around, 
and sometimes you can see the children out on 
the balconies.” 

“ Why can't we? ” said Timothy. “To-day is 
Thursday, and they are just coming out. We 
can get all the boys and girls to pick Saturday, 
and then Sunday we can make them into 
bunches, and send them down on the stage 
Monday morning.” 

And they did ! Miss Margaret, in her Friday 
talk, told the scholars of the children's hospital, 
and every one wanted to help. Mr. McAdam 
let Bill take the delivery wagon Saturday after- 
noon, and some of the boys drove a long way 
and came home with boxes and boxes of flowers. 
Mr. Perkins, the stage-driver, took all the flow- 
ers to the train for nothing. Mr. Johnston 
paid the express. The next week Miss Margaret 
read a letter to the school from the doctor at the 
hospital, thanking them and telling them how 
pleased the children were, and how the whole 
great building was made sweet with the fra- 
grance of their flowers. 


GOING INTO BUSINESS 


75 

The carpenters were building Mr. Johnston’s 
house now, and Amos was working on it. Every 
chance they had, Trudy and Timothy ran across 
the meadow and up the wood road to the house. 
They saw the great timbers put in place and the 
boards nailed on. They had fun building houses 
themselves with the pieces the carpenters threw 
away. Some of these they carried home in 
Timothy’s cart, and he made a house for Lamey. 
She had had quite a vacation, but now she re- 
ceived more attention. Whatever the carpenters 
did on Mr. Johnston’s house, Timothy tried to 
do on Lamey’s. Lamey liked to perch on the 
roof of the house, but she would not go inside. 
Timothy had made a wide door and put a roost 
in the house, and he wanted Lamey to live there. 
But she squawked and flew onto the roof every 
time that Timothy tried to push her in. Miss 
Margaret came by one day when Timothy was 
trying to force Lamey through the door. Poor 
Lamey was flapping and kicking and Timothy 
was very hot and cross. 

“ Put some corn inside on the floor, Timothy,” 
suggested Miss Margaret. 


76 TRUDT AND TIMOTHY 

And when Lamey saw the corn — “ Cluck — 
cluck — clu-u-uck,” said she, and smoothed her 
ruffled feathers, ducked her head, and strutted 
slowly in at the door ! 

It was the last of April. The trees were 
blooming and unfolding their soft green leaves. 
In the woods, skunk cabbage grew big and 
bright green, and the ferns were pushing their 
fuzzy, curved shoots out of the dark earth. The 
bluebirds and robins and song-sparrows sang, 
and down by the mouth of the creek the black- 
birds sailed and scolded. Trudy was sure that 
summer was almost here, when, one day, the 
sun hid behind thick gray clouds, the wind 
howled cold, and the rain fell, oh, so fast ! For 
two days it rained, and she and Timothy could 
not go to school. They could not even go out 
to the barn, but had to amuse themselves in the 
house. They looked across at Mr. Johnston's 
new house. The yellow boards were all wet 
and shining. The carpenters could not work. 
Amos did not come up from the village. Grand- 
father had a cold and sat by the fire with a piece 
of red flannel around his neck. His throat was 


GOING INTO BUSINESS 77 

very sore, and he had to take onion syrup that 
grandmother cooked on the back of the stove. 
Trudy and Timothy fussed because grandmother 
would not let them go up to Mr. Turner's to see 
Miss Margaret, but when they tasted the onion 
syrup and knew that they would have to take 
it if they caught cold, they decided it was better 
to stay in the house till the storm was over. 

Late in the afternoon of the second day they 
heard a team rattle into the yard. They ran to 
the window. There was Mr. Turner, and with 
him was the Santa Claus man, his face red with 
the cold wind and his white hair and beard wet 
with rain-drops. He laughed at them, shouting, 
“ Hullo, folks ! How do you like this ? Cheer 
up — I shouldn't wonder if somebody had a sur- 
prise pretty soon." 

He got out of the team, unbuttoned the rubber 
sides, and there on the back seat was the lovely 
white lady, in her warm white coat! She 
jumped out and ran into the house. 

“ How do you do, folks?" she cried. “Mrs. 
Todd, do you want company to supper? We 
were so lonesome that we couldn’t stay away 


7 8 TRUDT AND TIMOTHY 

another minute. My brother and Mr. Turner 
are going on to the village, but if you will have 
us, they will stop on the way back.” 

“ I should say I would,” replied grandmother, 
while Trudy and Timothy hopped about the 
white lady, shouting : 

“ Take off your coat — take it off, quick ! ” 

“I boiled a ham to-day,” said grandmother, 
44 and I’ll make some hot biscuit. After supper 
Trudy can make some candy, and Timothy can 
pop some corn and we will have a party.” 

14 Yes,” croaked grandfather, as Miss Margaret 
sat down on the other side of the fireplace, 44 and 
Til treat on onion syrup ! ” 

Then how they laughed ! 

The white lady said they must all help grand- 
mother get supper, so Timothy filled the wood- 
box way up to the top. Grandmother gave the 
white lady a big white apron, and she and 
Trudy set the table with all the best dishes. 
Grandmother made the biscuits, and grandfather 
held Dilly so she wouldn't be in the way. 
Pretty soon Mr. Turner and Mr. Johnston came 
back. They drove to the barn and put up the 


GOING INTO BUSINESS 


79 

horse. Mr. Turner gave the animals their sup- 
per while Mr. Johnston brought in the mail. 
He hurried back to the barn with the milk pails, 
and as soon as the men came back supper was 
ready, so there was not time to look at any letters. 

While they were eating Mr. Johnston told 
grandfather all about the new house. They 
spoke of Amos. Mr. Turner said that the fish 
man was in a hurry to go out West, and he 
wished that Amos could buy him out. 

After supper Trudy made some maple-sugar 
fudge, and while it was cooling they read their 
letters. There was a box from Florida for Trudy 
and Timothy Todd. 

“ What do you suppose it is ? ” said Trudy. 

“ It doesn’t rattle,” answered Timothy, shak- 
ing it. 

“ Why don’t you open it ? ” asked grandfather. 
“ I can’t wait another minute.” 

They tore off the paper. There was a square 
black box, and in the box was — a camera ! 

Maybe there wasn’t some excitement ! They 
found a little book with directions how to take 
pictures, and grandmother had a letter from 


8o 


TRUDT AND TIMOTHT 


Trudy’s mother and in the letter was this mes- 
sage — “ We are sending the children a camera. 
Trudy writes us such wonderful things that, as 
long as we cannot be there, we would like some 
pictures to show us all that is going on. Please 
send us a picture of the Santa Claus man, the 
white lady, the caterpillar cage, the new flag 
on the schoolhouse, and be sure not to forget 
Lamey.” 

“ Lamey, of course,” said the Santa Claus 
man. “ I shouldn’t mind having a picture of 
Lamey myself. I’d like one with Timothy, and 
one with Trudy. Perhaps I shall want some 
of my new house too, to send to my friends. 
I’ll pay you for my pictures — I suppose you 
will fill any orders that you may have? ” 

Trudy and Timothy felt very important to be 
business people like this, but in a minute Miss 
Margaret spoke. “ Brother, I think that is a 
good idea. And when the boarders come, I 
should think the children might take pictures 
and sell them. They could take the Todd Hotel 
in the village, the church and the store — you 
know the souvenir cards here are horrid.” 


GOING INTO BUSINESS 


81 


“ Look here,” said the Santa Claus man, slap- 
ping his knee so hard that Dilly jumped in her 
sleep, “ if you children can take some good pic- 
tures, Til furnish the money for having some 
first-class post-cards made, and we’ll go into the 
business ! ” 

“ I’ll go with you and help you get some 
pretty views,” said Miss Margaret. 

“They ought to have a place to sell them,” 
said grandfather. “ McAdam won’t sell them 
in the store. He makes a good profit on the 
others.” 

“ Oh,” said Timothy, “ wouldn’t it be great 
if we could have a store ? ” 

“ You can,” Mr. Turner said decidedly. 
“ There’s that little shanty of mine, right in 
the village, right across from Todd Hotel, too. 
I’ll have Amos fix it up, and you can start 
your post-card shop there as soon as the boarders 
come.” 

“ Trudy could make maple-sugar candy and 
sell that too,” suggested grandmother. 

“ And fancy crackers, and peanuts ! ” 

“ And baskets of ferns ! ” 


82 


TRUDT AND TIMOTHY 


“ Oh, Timothy 1 ” said Trudy. 

“ Oh, Trudy ! ” said Timothy. 

They gasped as the idea of being really-truly 
storekeepers grew upon them. 

“ Do you really mean it?” they asked the 
grown-ups. 

“ Of course we mean it ! ” 

And then they all began to talk about how it 
could be done, while the children slipped away 
and studied the camera book. 

“ We’ll have to take very fine pictures.” 

“ Sure — and we’ll make lots of money.” 

“ We’ll be rich ! ” 

“ I wish Amos could ” 

Timothy looked at Trudy — Trudy looked at 
Timothy. 

“ We will ! ” said Trudy. 

“ Sure we will,” agreed Timothy. “ We’ll 
buy him that fish-route the first thing we do ! ” 


CHAPTER VII 


THE STORY OF THE GREAT GALE 

All night the rain beat down from the thick 
gray clouds that hid the mountain and the 
hills. In the morning Mr. Turner came to do 
grandfather’s chores ; he said he guessed this 
was a real May storm, come a little ahead 
of time, and it wouldn’t clear till the wind 
changed. 

It rained harder and harder. Mr. Turner 
hurried home again and Trudy and Timothy 
watched him splashing through the puddles. 

“We can’t go to school to-day,” said Trudy. 
“ What shall we do ? ” 

“ Let’s play in the attic,” suggested Timothy. 

“ Put on your sweaters,” said grandmother. 
“ It isn’t very warm there on a rainy day.” 

“ Oh, grandmother, are there any old-fash- 
ioned clothes? Could we dress up?” asked 
Trudy eagerly. 


83 


84 TRUDT AND TIMOTHY 

“ There are some things in the square trunk 
by the west window that you may take. Don't 
touch any of the others.” 

The children clattered up the steep, narrow 
stairs. The big attic was dim and cool. At 
first they could see only the two small-paned 
windows at either end. As their eyes grew 
accustomed to the shadowy place they saw rows 
of trunks on either side, close to the sloping 
roof. Timothy's high chair was there, near the 
huge square chimney, and his little old rocking- 
horse. 

On a beam hung a saddle, and Timothy clam- 
bered up onto it, slapping the beam with the 
reins and shouting, “ Get-ap, get-ap,” like Mr. 
Perkins. 

The rain pounded on the roof over Trudy's 
head. She looked up and saw brown, square 
beams, rough-hewn and uneven. The attic 
smelled old and spicy and sweet. Trudy felt 
as if she had gone into another world, hundreds 
of years ago. Although she could hear grand- 
mother moving about in the kitchen, she 
thought of her as miles away. She wondered 


STORT OF THE GREAT GALE 85 

what other little girls and boys had played 
in that old attic, so big and clean and dark. 

She found the square trunk and opened it. 
There, on top, lay a little giiTs dress. It was 
light brown, with pink rosebud figures, and 
was made with a long, scant skirt, high waist, 
low neck and short puffed sleeves. She tried 
to put it on but it was too small. In the trunk 
were straw bonnets, lace scarfs, long narrow 
slippers, and a woman’s dress with bright flow- 
ers on it. When she pulled out a man's tall 
beaver hat Timothy came over to try it on. He 
reached into the trunk and found a broken 
pistol. 

“ What's that gold thing down in the corner ? " 
Trudy said. 

It was at the very bottom of the trunk, some- 
thing quite heavy, with gold fringe dangling 
from it. They both pulled and tugged, and at 
last it came tumbling out onto the floor, a sol- 
dier's coat of blue broadcloth, with large gold 
epaulettes. 

“ Oh-ho," said Timothy. “ Now I'm a soldier. 
I'm a captain.” 


86 


TRUDT AND T I MOT Hr 


He marched up and down the attic in the blue 
coat and the rain beat on the roof like drums. 

“ I wonder whose it was,” said Trudy. “ I’m 
hungry — let’s go down and get something to 
eat, and ask grandmother about it and about 
the little dress.” 

Timothy looked very comical, strutting down 
the stairs. The coat sleeves nearly reached the 
floor, and the long skirts trailed behind so Trudy 
had to be careful not to step on them. Grand- 
father and grandmother laughed to see him. 

“ I declare,” exclaimed grandfather, “ if he 
hasn’t found the old captain’s coat ! ” 

“ And here’s a little dress,” said Trudy. “ So 
tiny I Were little girls really as small as that 
around the waist? Tell us all about them, 
please, grandmother.” 

“That’s little Judith’s dress, the one she wore 
on Muster Day.” 

“ You’ve done it now, mother,” said grand- 
father. “ You won’t have any peace until you 
tell the story.” 

“ Oh, please tell it right now,” begged the 
children. 


STORT OF THE GREAT GALE 87 

Grandfather put a fresh log on the fire, and 
grandmother sat in her rocking-chair, with 
Trudy and Timothy at her feet. 

" Once upon a time,” she began, “ this house 
was a tavern, or hotel, where travelers could 
stop for meals or to pass the night. There were 
no railroads here in those days, so every one 
traveled in his own carriage or by stage-coach. 
Sometimes the journey would take several days, 
so these taverns were built along the post-roads 
for the accommodation of travelers, although at 
that time few people went away from home ex- 
cept on business, and there were many weeks in 
the winter when the taverns had no custom. 

“ But once every year this house was full — in 
late September when the militia assembled here 
for Muster Day. You see the pasture across the 
road, all grown up to pine trees so that we can- 
not see the mountain ? ” 

Trudy ran to the window and looked out. 

“ Yes,” she said, “ and white birches. It is 
all thick with trees.” 

“ When the Muster was held here that pasture 
was flat and smooth and covered with short dry 


88 


TRUDT AND TIMOTHY 


grass. It was a wonderful sight to see the sol- 
diers, in their blue uniforms, marching and 
drilling in the sunshine. That is my grand- 
father’s coat that Timothy has on. I am going 
to tell you about one Muster Day that has never 
been forgotten, and grandfather’s coat and the 
little dress that Trudy found are both in the 
story. 

“ Muster Day was like a great picnic. Every 
one wanted to go, and it was very lively and 
exciting. All through the night before peddlers 
and traveling showmen drove to the muster 
field and set up their tents and booths to be 
ready for the early comers. So many people 
came that the tavern-keeper could not feed 
them all, and there were refreshment tents 
where gingerbread, watermelons, honey and 
cider were sold. 

“ Early in the morning all the roads leading 
to the muster field were packed with carriages, 
horses, people on foot, boys and girls, and com- 
panies of soldiers, marching to the field. 

“ Away back on the hill lived a little girl, 
Judith Prescott, who wanted to come to this 


STORT OF THE GREAT GALE 89 

particular Muster Day, especially as her mother 
had been engaged to help on the extra work at 
the tavern. But Mrs. Prescott thought the con- 
fusion and crowd of Muster Day no place for a 
little eight-year-old girl whose mother would be 
too busy to care for her and whose father would 1 
be drilling with the soldiers ; so Judith was left 
at home in the little farmhouse with an older 
girl, Hannah, who lived with the Prescotts. 

“ Judith and Hannah sat on the door-stone 
and looked across the valley to the muster field. 
They could see the white tents and the crowds 
of people moving about, and the thick blue 
squares of the different companies of soldiers. 
They could hear the lively band music, now and 
then, on the puffs of the east wind. 

“ 1 1 wish I could go ! ’ said Judith, over and 
over again. 

“ But Hannah only gazed and said nothing. 
After dinner she told Judith to wash the dishes. 
When the dishes were done, Judith went again 
to the door to watch the gay sight. Hannah 
was not there. Judith called but there was no 
answer. The wind blew cold and the sun was' 


TRUDT AND TIMOTHY 


90 

dim behind a bank of cloud. Little Judith 
suddenly felt lonely and frightened. She called 
Hannah again. The clouds grew darker and 
piled high in the sky. The chickens scurried 
about, peeping and running back and forth in a 
strange manner. Judith wanted her mother. 
She shut the door and ran down the road toward 
the tavern, two miles away. 

“ On the muster field Hannah was strolling 
from tent to tent, looking at the curiosities, chat- 
ting with the soldiers, but keeping far away from 
the tavern and her mistress. Hannah had come 
to the muster; she did not care where little 
Judith was, but she did not want to be seen and 
sent home. 

“ At first no one noticed the gathering dark- 
ness ; then, abruptly, every one seemed to look 
up at the sky. Thick black storm-clouds were 
sweeping down over the field, jagged streaks of 
lightning showed other clouds pushing on, and 
then the wind swept onto the earth. A tent fell 
flat. A horse reared. From all quarters of the 
great field men, women and children rushed 
to the buildings for shelter. My grandfather, on 


STORT OF THE GREAT GALE 91 

his black horse, galloped about, helping, direct- 
ing and trying to calm their fears. 

“ * The tornado — the tornado ! ’ shrieked a 
woman, and panic seized the crowd. Hannah 
ran for the tavern. Judith’s mother, looking 
out the back window, trying to see her home in 
the gathering blackness, felt Hannah pulling at 
her skirts. 

“ 1 Oh, Hannah/ she exclaimed in relief, ‘ I’m 
so glad you came down ! Where is Judith ? ’ 

“ Hannah cried and sobbed. She could not 
speak, but there was no need for words. Mrs. 
Prescott understood. Thrusting Hannah aside, 
she ran toward the door, pushing her way 
through the people that were crowding in. 

“ The thunder roared without stopping. The 
sheets of rain blotted out the mountain, the 
nearer hills, the trees and the muster field, 
drowning even the thunder. And just as two 
men bent all their strength to close the front 
door against the gale, little Judith staggered in 
and fell in her mother’s arms.” 

“ Oh,” breathed Trudy, “ I’m so glad she got 
there ! How awful to be out in a tornado.” 


92 


TRUDY AND TIMOTHY 


“ In a very short time the cyclone passed on/ 7 
continued grandmother, “ but it had done terri- 
ble damage. It had cut a great path through 
the town, uprooting huge trees, overturning 
barns, sheds and even houses. Not a tent was 
standing on the muster field. This house and 
the buildings seemed to be just outside the path 
of the gale and so escaped. 

“ Grandfather ordered the bugler to sound as- 
sembly and the soldiers formed in companies. 
He told them there would be no more drill, and 
no dance in the evening, as had been planned, 
and asked those who could to spend the rest of 
the day in doing something to help repair the 
damage of the tornado. The people hurried to 
their homes. Many had to walk because their 
wagons had been blown away and their horses 
killed or so frightened that they had run, no 
one knew where. The roads were blocked with 
the trees that had fallen across them. 

“ Judith's father came into the tavern 
kitchen. 

“ 4 We shall spend the night here/ he said to 
his wife. 


STORT OF THE GREAT GALE 93 

“ ‘ Don’t you think it safe to go home ? ’ she 
asked. 

“ 1 Look out the window/ was his reply. * We 
have no home now.’ 

“ Judith and her mother looked out. The 
hillside, where their little house and great barn 
had stood, was smooth and bare. The tornado 
had rushed up the hill and scattered the build- 
ings in every direction. 

“ The tavern-keeper’s wife came in with some 
of the little girl’s clothes. 

“ 4 Here is dry clothing for Judith/ she said. 
“ She must not keep her wet things on any 
longer. And you shall stay here until you 
can find a new home.’ 

“ When Mr. Prescott could get up to his farm 
he found everything ruined. The cattle were 
dead, the chickens and the coops had vanished, 
and even the furniture had been broken and 
blown miles away. He soon took his family 
to another town, and when my mother came 
here to live she found Judith’s dress in the attic. 
You can see where she tore it as she hurried 
through the woods.” 


94 


TRUDT AND TIMOTHT 


“ What did they do to Hannah ? ” asked Trudy. 

“ She was punished enough by her fright, and 
Mrs. Prescott was thankful that Hannah and 
Judith were safe. If they had stayed alone on 
the hill they would have been terribly fright- 
ened and perhaps killed.” 

“ And how did the soldiers get home ? ” in- 
quired Timothy. 

“ They did not try to go home for several 
days. Some, whose homes had been damaged, 
went, but those who lived out of the path of 
the tornado stayed in Todd’s Ferry, helping the 
farmers straighten up the young fruit trees, 
clearing the roads, and doing what they could 
wherever they were needed.” 

“ You’ve forgotten one thing,” added grand- 
father. “ When the farmers harvested their 
apples that year, they were all as salt as if they 
had been dipped in brine. The wind of that 
great storm was so mighty that it had carried 
the spray from the ocean, more than eighty 
miles away.” 

“ How long ago was it, grandmother ? ” 
Trudy asked. 


STORT OF THE GREAT GALE 95 

“ Just one hundred years ago.” 

“ And the great pines that were blown down 
on the post-road, only a few minutes after little 
Judith passed that way, are lying in the same 
spot to-day,” said grandfather. “ Trees have 
grown up about them, the old road is neglected 
and almost forgotten, but the roots are standing, 
full of earth and little plants and ferns. They 
are taller than I am — higher than I can reach 
in some places. I’ll take you to see them 
some day.” 

“ It must have been awful,” said Trudy. 
“ I’m glad we don’t have gales like that now. 
Oh, Timothy, see — it’s all clearing in the west. 
It’s going to be a fine day to-morrow.” 

Note : — The matter of the fruit being impregnated 
with salt from the ocean, during the great gale, is 
vouched for in the 11 History of Sutton,” by Augusta 
Harvey Worthen, as happening during the Great Gale 
of September 25, 1815, which swept from the seacoast 
of Massachusetts over the southern part of New Hamp- 
shire. See volume 1, page 218, ‘ History of Sutton, 
N. H.” 


CHAPTER VIII 


SALTING THE CATTLE 

After the storm there were many days of 
fine weather. In all the fields the farmers were 
ploughing and planting. Amos dug up grand- 
mother's garden ; she took out her tin boxes 
of seeds and planted her flower beds. 

In the barns the young cattle that had been 
shut up all winter were restless, pawing and 
stamping in their stalls and calling to their 
masters to let them out in the green pastures. 

One night, about the middle of May, Mr. 
Turner came into the barn where grandfather 
was milking. Trudy and Timothy were wait- 
ing for their drink of warm milk, and Dilly 
sat in the doorway. 

“ Jonas," said Mr. Turner, “ I'm going to put 
the stock out to pasture to-morrow. Will that 
suit you? " 

“ Yes," said grandfather. “ I was intending 
96 


SALTING THE CATTLE 


97 

to go for grain, but it is time the cattle were 
out. We’ll make an early start. I’ll be along 
by your house at seven o’clock.” 

“ Oh, grandfather,” Timothy complained, 
“ there is school to-morrow. Can’t you wait 
till Saturday so I can go too ? ” 

“ Impossible ; but Saturday afternoon I shall 
go up to the pasture to salt the cattle, and you 
and Trudy may both go with me.” 

“Are you going to take the cows away?” 
asked Trudy. 

“ No, only the young calves. It is good for 
them to run in the pastures and grow strong. 
Mr. Turner and I keep our cattle together in a 
pasture, away up back on the hills.” 

Amos came to the house on Saturday to paint 
a closet for grandmother, so they asked him to 
go too. 

“ We are going in the woods, Trudy,” he 
teased. “ Aren’t you afraid you’ll be lone- 
some ? ” 

But Trudy had lived almost six months in 
the country and had learned many things, so 
she only laughed at him and said perhaps she 


98 TRUDT AND TIMOTHY 

could find something to show him — anyway she 
would try ! 

Amos carried the bag of coarse salt. They 
went first up to Mr. Turner’s, between his house 
and barn, then along a narrow road, new to 
Trudy. It was bordered with long-stemmed 
violets and grass grew in the middle. They 
heard the brook rushing over the stones, and 
soon saw it, flowing beside them, just the other 
side of the wall. 

“ I’m going to wade,” cried Timothy. “ You 
can go a long way in the brook.” 

He took off his shoes, tied them together with 
the lacings and hung them around his neck. 
He stuffed his stockings in his pockets and 
climbed over the wall. Trudy was so busy 
untying her own shoes that she did not see 
him shiver when his feet touched the water. 

“ Carry my shoes for me, Amos, please,” she 
said, scrambling after Timothy. 

“ Oh — oh — oh ” she shrieked. “ It’s ice- 

water ! Oh, isn’t it cold ? ” 

But soon they did not mind it, and, while 
Amos and grandfather walked along the road, 


SALTING THE CATTLE 


99 

the children waded up the brook, sometimes in 
shallow pools, sometimes over rocks, slippery 
with green moss, and sometimes, when the 
water was too deep or too swift, on the dry 
banks. At last the brook left the road and 
went away under a bridge. The children put 
on their shoes and stockings and joined Amos 
and grandfather on the road. But such a road ! 
Up the hill it went, all washed and gullied by 
the rain, full of deep mud-holes and masses of 
rocks, large and small. Trudy said that the 
only difference between the road and the brook 
was that the brook had a little more water ! 

Beyond the bridge was an untidy pile of gray, 
weather-beaten boards, with the ruins of a dam 
behind it. 

“ What was that place? ” asked Trudy. 

“ A mill,” replied grandfather. “ The miller 
lived in the white house over there. The mill 
pond is up here to the right. Do you want to 
see it ? ” 

They walked up through a field and there, on 
the hillside, was a large smooth pond. 

“ The water went over the dam, down upon a 


ioo TRUDT AND TIMOTHY 

great water-wheel that furnished the power for 
the circular saw,” explained Amos, “ and then 
ran into the brook that we have been following.” 

“ Why did they let the mill fall down ? ” 

“ Because men have discovered that it is 
easier to take mills to lumber than to take 
lumber to the mills. They have portable saw- 
mills now, run by steam, and carry them from 
place to place, setting them up until the lumber 
at that spot is all sawed, then going on some- 
where else.” 

They went back to the steep, muddy road. 
Timothy was ahead, leaping from rock to hum- 
mock and telling them where to step. Trudy 
tried to follow, but her feet slipped and stuck 
in the deep mud. When she pulled them out 
she heard a chuckling sound — “ Like gnomes 
under the earth, laughing at me, and trying to 
pull me down,” she told Amos. “ Don’t let 
them get me, will you ? ” 

On either side were stone walls with gaps in 
them where the stones had fallen out. Grand- 
father explained that this was a very old road, 
abandoned now, and so the town was not obliged 


SALTING THE CATTLE ioi 

to keep it in repair. And Timothy told her 
that wherever she saw a wall that was falling 
down, she might know that there were no cattle 
in that pasture, for when farmers put their stock 
out to pasture they kept the walls mended so 
the creatures could not get out and stray away. 

And now they came to a fine high wall, with 
a new pair of bars that Amos let down. 

“ Here we are,” said grandfather. 

They went into a large sloping grassy field 
with clumps of small scrubby bushes, some very 
tall maple trees near the bars, and some smaller 
half-dead trees a little farther on. All around 
were high hills. Grandfather and Amos sat 
down to rest. 

“Where are the cattle?” asked Trudy, look- 
ing about timidly. 

“ Away off in the woods. We may have to 
call them. We will go after them in a few 
minutes if they do not hear us and come.” 

“ They won't hurt you, Trudy,” said Timothy. 
“ Anyway we can see them coming out of the 
woods. Come on, I'm going to explore.” 

The children ran about the meadow. 


102 TRUDT AND TIMOTHY 


“ Amos, come here,” called Trudy. “ See 
what I’ve found ! Here’s a brick — how did it 
get away up here on this hill ? Why, this hump 
I’m standing on is a whole pile of bricks — and 

here’s a lot of stones It looks as if there 

used to be a cellar here.” 

“ And apple trees,” added Timothy. “ This 
was the orchard.” 

“ Here is the well, covered with these big flat 
stones ! ” 

The children knelt down and peered through 
the chinks. It was deep and dark and black in 
the old well. 

“ I can see the water,” said Timothy. 

Amos threw a stone in and they heard it 
splash, far below. 

Trudy pushed her way through the tangle of 
berry bushes and birch trees that filled the cellar 
hole. She climbed up on the other side and 
found a long flat slab of granite, darkened with 
age and spotted with fine green moss. 

“ Here’s the door-stone,” she said. 

“ Yes,” replied grandfather, “ and can you 
guess who sat on that very door-stone, a hun- 


SALTING THE CATTLE 103 

dred years ago, and watched the angry clouds 
rise over the mountain ? Do you remember the 
story that grandmother told about the great 
gale ? ” 

“ Not little J udith ? ” exclaimed Trudy. 
“ Grandfather, did little Judith really live 
here ? ” 

“ Yes. We are on the old Prescott place. 
This is the spot where Judith and Hannah sat 
and looked across to the muster field. All the 
trees that hide it from us have grown up since 
that time.” 

“ Why, how could a little girl ever run down 
that awful road ? ” 

“The road was well kept then,” said Amos, 
“ and this was not a lonely pasture but a fertile 
farm.” 

“ You can see the lake and the village from 
the open space here,” called Timothy. 

But Trudy did not look for the lake or the 
village. From the bushes that bordered the 
brook at the foot of the hill came such a crash- 
ing and trampling that she had no thought for 
anything except the fearful animals that were 


104 TRUDT AND TIMOTHY 

rushing from the wood and galloping up the 
hill, straight at her ! 

She shrieked and ran to grandfather. Tim- 
othy laughed, but grandfather lifted her to the 
top of a high rock, well out of the way of kick- 
ing hoofs and waving horns. 

“ They don’t want you, little city girl. They 
know we are bringing them salt. They smell 
it and are wild to get it. They love salt as well 
as you love candy. Timothy, get up on the 
rock beside Trudy. Some of these calves are 
pretty lively.” 

Timothy wanted to stay on the ground, but 
when grandfather spoke in that tone he knew 
he must obey, so he crawled up on the rock and 
sat with his hands around his knees. 

. Grandfather sprinkled the salt on the top of 
a low flat rock, and the cattle pushed and 
stamped to get near enough to lap it up. 

“ There are the calves that were in the barn 
when you came, Trudy,” said Timothy. “ See, 
they are the smallest ones, and the two-year- 
olds push ’em away. There’s salt enough for 
all of them, though.” 


SALTING THE CATTLE 105 

Amos told Trudy that young calves who were 
put out to pasture their first summer were called 
yearlings, and the others two-year-olds or three- 
year-olds. After that, they were grown-up cows 
and oxen and had to stay near home and work 
for the farmers. 

At last the cattle seemed willing to leave the 
salt. Amos and grandfather drove them away 
and took Trudy down from her high perch. 

“I want to go back to Judith's house/’ she 
said. 

At the house, the men sat down on the door- 
stone. 

“ Now, Trudy,” said Amos, “ see how much 
you have learned since you came to the country. 
You know the story of this old farm. Is there 
anything here now that you think may have 
been here when little Judith lived in the house? 
And does anything live here now ? Use your 
eyes ! ” 

“ And your nose,” suggested grandfather. 

Trud}^ sniffed. A lovely fragrance came from 
behind her. She saw a large bush with twisted 
stems bigger than her arms. Over her head 


io6 TRUDT AND TIMOTHT 


were green leaves and above the green leaves 
clusters of purple blossoms. 

“ Lilacs," she cried. “ Was the lilac bush 
here then ? ” 

“ Right ! " said Amos. 

“ I've found something, too," announced Tim- 
othy. “ These old apple trees are almost lying 
on the ground, they're so crooked, and I guess 
they were young when the gale came and blew 
them over, and nobody ever came away up 
here to straighten them." 

“ Right for you ! " said Amos. 

Trudy ran over to look at the apple trees. In 
a branch just over her head she saw a little 
round hole, and while she wondered what it 
could be, a bird with a reddish-brown breast and 
a wonderful blue back and wings flew by her 
and into the hole ! 

“ I've found a bluebird's nest," she called. 
“ And I saw the bluebird go in ! " 

“ Good for you ! You're improving,” said 
Amos. “ If you stay here long enough, you'll 
really learn to see things." 

On the way home they met Miss Margaret, 


SALTING THE CATTLE 107 

coming to meet them. Trudy told her about 
the little dress and about finding little Judith’s 
door-stone and the old lilac bush. Miss Mar- 
garet clapped her hands. 

“ You can wear the dress, Trudy,” she said, 
“ and I’ll take a picture of you under the lilac 
bush so you can see just how little Judith 
looked.” 

“ But the dress isn’t big enough,” objected 
Trudy. 

“ We’ll make it big enough,” laughed Miss 
Margaret. “ We will let it out.” 

“ No,” said Amos, “ I know a better way than 
that. Trudy can stop eating until she grows 
thin enough to fit the dress.” 


CHAPTER IX 


THE LITTLE RED FARMHOUSE 

The first picture that Trudy took with the 
new camera was the Santa Claus man. 

“ Pooh,” he said when she asked him to pose, 
“ nobody would want to buy my picture. 
Everybody knows how Santa Claus looks.” 

She teased and teased until at last he agreed. 
The picture was a grand success. Trudy took it 
on the very spot where she and Timothy had 
first seen him, and he stood just as he did then, 
in his big fur coat, with his head turned so that 
his white hair and beard showed, and one hand 
was on a little Christmas tree. 

Every single person who looked at that 
picture said, “ Why, there is Santa Claus ! ” 
Not one said, “ Why, there is Mr. Johnston.” 

Timothy had his share of the camera, too. 
He got a fine picture of the Todd’s Ferry ball 
team with the pennant that they won the year 
108 


THE RED FARMHOUSE 109 

before. And Lamey posed in all her trick 
positions — -holding up her head for Timothy to 
scratch her neck, riding in the cart, standing in 
the doorway of her house, and on Amos’s hand. 

Mr. Johnston sent the films away and had the 
pictures developed, and post-cards made for the 
summer trade. Grandfather explained to the 
children that they must pay Mr. Johnston for 
doing this when they sold the cards, but after 
he had been paid, all the money they made 
would be their very own. 

They watched carefully for any chance to 
take a curious or interesting picture, and Miss 
Margaret helped them. One day she was walk- 
ing with them in the fields near the new house, 
hunting for violets, when Amos and Mr. John- 
ston came along. 

“ Come on, everybody/’ called Mr. Johnston. 
“ Amos is going to locate my well.” 

Timothy gave a whoop of delight and raced 
ahead. Trudy did not understand, so she asked 
Miss Margaret. 

“ You know, dear,” said Miss Margaret, “ that 
in the country every one must get his own 


no TRUDT AND TIMOTHY 


water, so each farmer digs a well. Now, under 
the ground are streams of water, flowing just 
like the brooks that we can see. There are 
hidden springs too, and these are fine places to 
dig wells. But, of course, unless you know 
where the water is, you could dig and dig and 
never get a well. Amos is going to look for 
hidden water.” 

“ How will he do it ? How can he tell ? ” 

“ That is exactly what you are going to see.” 

Timothy ran back, shouting, “ I'm hurrying 
home to get Lamey. She wants to learn how 
to locate a well ! ” 

Amos crossed to the edge of the field, where 
the witch-hazel bushes grew thick, and cut a 
forked branch. While he was trimming it, 
Timothy caught up with them. He was pant- 
ing for breath, and Lamey was clutched under 
his arm. He dropped her on the grass and took 
his knife out of his pocket. 

“ I’m going to try, too, Amos,” he shouted. 
“I know how.” 

“ Cut one for Trudy,” said Amos. “ Perhaps 
she can find water — who knows? ” 


THE RED FARMHOUSE hi 


Mr. Johnston cut a forked branch for Trudy. 
“ Lamey wants one,” said Miss Margaret, so 
Timothy cut a wee one for her, too. 

Amos grasped the two small ends of his 
branch firmly in his hands with the main 
branch straight up in the air. Timothy did 
the same. Trudy took hers, and Miss Margaret 
put the wee one around Lamey’s neck. “ Lamey 
hasn’t any hands,” she said, “ and she needs her 
feet to walk on.” 

“What will it do?” asked Trudy. “Oh, 
what will it do ? ” 

Timothy spoke oyer his shoulder. “ Hold it 
right out in front of you, as far as you can, and 
walk along. When you’re over running water, 
the stick will bend down toward the ground, 
and you can’t keep it up.” 

The procession started. Amos marched slowly 
around the field. Timothy followed, with Trudy 
behind him and Lamey hopping and bobbing 
along, pecking at insects in the grass. Now and 
then she gave a little flying jump into the air 
after a bee or a butterfly that sailed over her 
head. Mr. Johnston was too much interested 


1 12 TRUDT AND TIMOTHY 


in watching the stick in Amos’s hand to notice 
the others, but Miss Margaret laughed, they 
looked so funny. Suddenly she remembered 
that she was carrying the camera. She crept 
up behind them and took a picture. They 
never knew anything about it until the post- 
cards came, and weren’t they surprised ! 

Back and forth they walked, nearer and 
nearer to the new house. The branches of 
witch-hazel did not move. “ Try over this 
way,” advised Mr. Johnston. 

Slowly Amos walked toward him. The 
branch began to bend. It turned downward. 
The bark ripped off in Amos’s hands as he 
tried to hold it. More and more it twisted. It 
pointed straight down to the ground. Amos 
threw it away, and marked the place with a 
stone. “ Here’s your well, all right, and it’s a 
good place, too.” Trudy thought it was just 
like a fairy wand, but she knew there must be 
water there, because Amos said so. 

“ Amos knows everything,” she said to Miss 
Margaret. “ I think he’s just splendid. I 
think everybody is nice up here. I wish I 


THE RED FARMHOUSE 1 13 

lived here all the time. You’re going to live 
here all the time, aren’t you, when your house 
is done ? ” 

“ Not quite all the time. We shall have to 
go back down South in the winter, but we shall 
stay here as long as we can.” 

They climbed up the rough steps and went 
all over the new house. It wasn’t anywhere 
nearly done, but they could see the shape of 
the rooms, and Mr. Johnston showed them the 
big stone chimney in the great hall, the place 
for the balcony, and the bedrooms opening 
from it. “ Here’s where my little nephew will 
sleep,” he said. “ He’s just about as big as you 
small people. I think maybe he will come up 
here pretty soon. Do you suppose you could 
make him have a good time, so he wouldn’t be 
homesick ? ” 

Trudy and Timothy thought they could try, 
and they asked what he looked like. 

“ Well,” said the Santa Claus man, winking 
at Amos, “ let me see. Oh, I remember — he 
has two eyes, and a nose and a mouth, and two 
ears, and some hair cut Dutch, and a blue suit, 


1 14 TRUDT AND TIMOTHY 

and a Rough Rider suit, and two arms and two 

legs to wear them on, and ” but just then 

Trudy and Timothy ran at him and shook him 
so hard that he refused to tell them another 
word. He said if they didn’t like what he was 
telling them, they must wait and see for them- 
selves. 

“ It is time to go home,” said Miss Margaret. 
“ Shall we take the short cut by the farm- 
house?” 

They all went down across a- field that Trudy 
had never seen before, and in a few minutes 
they came to a little red farmhouse. Green 
lilac bushes with purple buds grew on either 
side of a path that led to the front door. A 
pump at one side made Trudy thirsty. Behind 
was a big barn, and an orchard that stretched 
ever so far. Flower beds in the front yard had 
little plants pushing up through the earth. 
Big trees shaded the house, and at one side was 
a great flat rock, just the place to play house ! 

“ Oh,” exclaimed Trudy, “ what a lovely, 
lovely house ! Whose is it ? Who lives here ? ” 

“ It is mine,” said the Santa Claus man. 



■ 


LOVELY HOUSE 




“ WHAT A LOVELY, 




















. 













































































































































































THE RED FARMHOUSE 115 

“ This is my workshop. I make all my Christ- 
mas presents in the barn.” 

Trudy never quite knew when he was joking, 
so she turned to Miss Margaret. 

“ Is it really his ? ” 

“ Yes — he bought it when he bought the 
land.” 

“ Look ! ” said Amos, pointing. 

Trudy looked, and there — only a little way 
across the fields — was Grandfather Todd's white 
house. She could see the glass in the door. 
She could see grandmother in the yard, hang- 
ing her blue apron on the clothes-line. Above 
she could see Mr. Turner's house. 

“ Why, it's right near home,” she said. 
“Why didn't I know about it before?” 

“ The trees hide the house from your place,” 
answered Amos. “ But if anybody lived here 
you could see the smoke from the chimney.” 

“ And nobody lives here? ” 

“ No, the people moved away.” 

“ Oh, I wish I could live here ! It must be 
a beautiful place. Mother would like it, and 
father would be all well here. The doctor said 


1 1 6 TRUDT AND TIMOTHY 

he would be well if he could live in the 
country.” 

The Santa Claus man looked at the white 
lady. Trudy did not see the look because she 
was peeking in the windows of the farmhouse. 
Timothy did not see the look because he was 
trying to catch Lamey. But Amos saw it, 
and for a minute he wondered if he had not 
seen Santa Claus himself! 

“ Would you like to go in, Trudy ? ” said 
Mr. Johnston. 

“ Oh, would I ? ” 

He found the key on his key-ring and un- 
locked the door. Inside, the house was just as 
lovely as Trudy had imagined. There were 
open fireplaces. There were dear little low 
closets, just the places for dolls and toys. There 
was a pretty bedroom up-stairs that looked out 
into the trees, and almost near enough to touch 
was an oriole’s nest. All the rooms were empty, 
because the people who had moved away had 
taken all the furniture, but Trudy loved every 
inch of the place. She could hardly bear to go 
away and leave it. 


THE RED FARMHOUSE 


ii 7 

“ I’m coming here every day,” she an- 
nounced. “ I’m going to play that this is my 
truly house Oh ! ” 

“ What is it ? ” asked Mr. Johnston, but she 
would not tell. All the way home she looked 
back at the trees that hid the little red farm- 
house. 

Grandmother invited them all in to rest, and 
Trudy told her all about the beautiful new 
house that they had found. 

“And isn’t it mean?” she said. “Nobody 
lives in it.” 

“ Well, don’t be discouraged,” said Mr. John- 
ston ; “ perhaps somebody will some day.” 

While grandmother was getting some warm 
milk for them to drink, Trudy beckoned Mr. 
Johnston into the sitting-room and shut the 
door. 

“ Can you keep a secret ? ” she asked. 

“ Cross my heart ! ” he answered. 

“ We didn’t mean to tell any one till it was 
done, and you mustn’t breathe a word of it, but 
I guess Timothy wouldn’t mind if you knew. 
After we pay you for the pictures, do you know 


1 1 8 TRUDT AND TIMO THY 


what we’re going to do with the money we 
make in our store ? ” 

“ No.” 

“ Well, we’re going to buy the fish-route for 
Amos — because he wants it so bad, and he hasn’t 
any money — but, after that, I think, if you’ll 
sell it to me, I shall take my share and buy that 
little farmhouse so father and mother and I can 
live there always. And you see I had to tell 
you because I wanted to ask you to please not 
sell it to any one else.” 

The Santa Claus man seemed to have a bad 
cough. It came on quite suddenly and it lasted 
a long time. When it was gone, his eyes were 
very bright, almost as if there were tears in 
them. 

“ I promise ! ” he said solemnly. “ I will not 
let any one else buy it.” And then he snatched 
Trudy up in his arms, and hugged her very 
tight, and kissed her on the spot where the 
honey grows, right in her little white neck, 
behind her ear. 


CHAPTER X 


THE DOOR-STEP STORE 

It was the middle of June. The days were 
so long and so lovely that Trudy and Timothy 
played out-of-doors every minute when they 
were not in school. They wished school would 
end, but they remembered that Miss Fields 
would go away and were sorry ; then they re- 
membered that Donald was coming after school 
closed and they were glad. 

One Friday night they were helping grand- 
mother plant seeds in the flower garden when 
Mr. Turner came up from the village with the 
mail. Miss Margaret was riding with him, and 
while he carried grandfather's newspaper into 
the house, grandmother and the children went 
out to talk to her. 

“Oh, Mrs. Todd," she said, “my brother is 
going to buy a door-stone to-morrow, and I 
wondered if you would let Trudy and Tim- 
119 


120 TRUDT AND T 1 M 0 THT 

othy go with us and help select it?” Then she 
laughed. 

Grandmother laughed too, but Trudy couldn't 
see anything to laugh at. She had often been 
with her mother to select things at the stores in 
Boston, but she could not remember ever seeing 
a door-stone on the counters or the shelves. 
Still she knew now that you could buy almost 
anything at the store in Todd's Ferry, so she 
would not have been very much surprised to 
see Mr. McAdam go out in the back shed and 
produce a nice door-stone. 

“ Look at Trudy,” laughed the white lady. 
“ She doesn't understand a word we are talking 
about. Don't tell her, folks ! She never went 
shopping with me, and I want to surprise 
her.” 

Then Trudy laughed. “ I don’t care,” she 
called as tljey drove away. “ I know it will be 
lovely if it is anything you do.” 

Next day the sun rose early and woke Trudy. 
It was a beautiful morning with a soft west wind, 
and warm enough for summer dresses. At ex- 
actly ten o’clock Mr. Turner drove into the yard, 


THE DOOR-STEP STORE 121 

and at the same time they saw Amos coming up 
the road. 

My, but the carryall was full ! Mr. Johnston 
and Miss Margaret were on the back seat, with 
Trudy and Timothy in their laps, that is, Trudy 
sat in Miss Margaret's lap, but Timothy stood be- * 
tween Mr. Johnston's knees. In front were Mr. 
Turner and Amos, and down by their feet was a 
big wooden box full of smaller boxes and lumpy 
bundles, and all covered with a white towel. 

“ Good-bye," called grandmother. 

Away they went. They saw grandfather 
working in the meadow and he waved his wide- 
rimmed straw hat. Through the wood road they 
drove, past the little red house that Trudy loved, 
up to Mr. Johnston’s big new house, by that, 
and up — up a narrow road where the spotted 
beech trees met over their heads. About a mile 
beyond the new house they came to a pair of 
bars. Amos got out and let them down. Mr. 
Turner drove into the field and across it to some 
big pine trees that grew on the other side. 

“Jump out, everybody," said Miss Margaret. 

" We shall have to walk the rest of the way." 


122 TRUDT AND TIMOTHY 


“ I know where we are going,” shouted Tim- 
othy. “ I knew we were going to the quarry. 
I can show you the way. I’ve been up to this 
quarry more’n a hundred times ! ” 

“ Lead on, then/’ said Amos. “ Take the 
ladies to the door-step store, and we’ll be along 
as soon as we have unhitched Ned and given 
him his dinner.” 

11 Come on ! Hustle up, Trudy,” ordered Tim- 
othy, plunging into the woods. 

At first they walked over pine needles, with 
young light-green ferns growing here and there, 
but soon they came to a place where the chop- 
pers had been at work in the winter. Scratchy 
dead branches lay loose on the ground, and 
Trudy had to lift her feet very high to walk at 
all. Even then it was hard work, and she 
swayed and tumbled among the dry brown 
limbs. Miss Margaret helped her, but Timothy 
crashed ahead, shouting, “ Hurry up, hurry up, 
Trudy ! ” 

At last they reached the other side. Here 
they found a thin row of pine trees, and beyond 
them, many irregular-shaped pieces of rock. 


THE DOOR-STEP STORE 123 

Soft, cool, hay-scented ferns grew thickly among 
them at first, but stopped at the edge of the quarry. 

“ This is where I am going to do my shop- 
ping, ” said Miss Margaret gravely. “ This is the 
granite quarry where they sell door-stones of the 
very best quality.” 

Trudy looked about her. Instead of a store 
she saw a great flat floor of rock, with blocks of 
all sizes lying about. On the sides the rocks 
looked like giant's steps where the square blocks 
had been cut away n Timothy was already 
scrambling over them. Trudy heard a noise, 
and saw Mr. Turner and Amos walking up a 
wide path, carrying the box of lunch. 

“ Where did you go?” they said. “Why 
didn't you come up the road ? ” 

“ Timothy took us through the brush that the 
wood-choppers left,” explained Miss Margaret. 
“ He said he knew the way.” 

“ And he didn't know it at all,” declared 
Trudy, “ but we got here. I tore my stocking. 
Isn't this a wonderful place?” 

Amos told her that the top of the hill was of 
granite, a gray rock that was used for curbstones 


124 TRUDY AND TIMOTHY 

in the cities, for foundations of houses, and, in 
the country, for door-stones a great deal. Mr. 
Turner owned the quarry, and when a person 
wanted to buy any granite he would sell it. In 
the early spring he drilled holes in the rock and 
filled them with dynamite, blasting out pieces 
of every size and shape that he thought might 
be needed. When he could, he preferred to haul 
the blocks down in the winter because it was 
easier to take them over snow, but sometimes he 
had to do it in summer. After Mr. Johnston 
had picked out the block he liked for his door- 
stone, Mr. Turner would come up with a pair of 
oxen and a drag and haul it down to the house. 

“ What’s a drag? ” asked Trudy. 

“ Oh, just a low platform on big strong 
wheels. It’s easy to get the stones off and on a 
low thing. Granite is very heavy, you know.” 

Mr. Johnston had selected his door-stone and 
come back to where they were talking. 

“ What did you say about the dry brush ? ” 
he asked. 

“ It is all in a mess over there,” replied Trudy. 

“ I’ll have that fixed. They should never 


THE DOOR-STEP STORE 125 

leave it so. It must be piled up in rows, several 
feet apart and the earth between all cleared of 
rubbish.’ 7 

“ Why ? ” 

“ I know,” replied Timothy. “ So if it gets 
on fire, they can dig trenches between the rows 
of brush and the fire won’t have so much chance 
to spread.” 

“ Right ! ” declared Mr. Turner. “ Go to the 
head of the class, young man.” 

“ No, go to the lunch box,” said Miss Margaret. 
“ I’m hungry.” 

“ Well,” announced Amos, “ it is time to be 
hungry. It is twelve o’clock.” 

“ Where’s the clock?” asked Trudy. 

“ In the sky. Can’t you see the sun is right 
over your head, half-way between rising and 
going to bed ? ” 

They all laughed at that, and Amos was very 
much surprised when he realized that he had 
made a rhyme. He got up and said he guessed 
he’d build the fire. 

“ Oh,” cried Trudy, “ are we going to have a 
fire? Where?” 


126 TRUDT AND TIMOTHT 


“ Where we always have it, of course,” an- 
swered Timothy. “ Don’t you see the fire- 
place ? ” 

In a sheltered corner of the quarry, on the 
granite floor and between two granite walls, 
were three flat rocks set up like three sides of a 
stove. The front was open ; another flat rock 
made the top. The one at the back was lower 
than those at the sides, and left an opening for 
the smoke to escape. 

“ Everybody get some dry wood,” called Miss 
Margaret. “ I’ll unpack.” 

It was easy to find dry wood at the edge of 
the quarry, and soon Amos had a roaring fire. 
Mr. Johnston and Mr. Turner were taking pack- 
ages from the wooden box and handing them to 
Miss Margaret. She had spread a red and white 
table-cloth on a big square block of stone, and 
Trudy weighted the corners with some small 
stones to keep it from blowing away. Amos 
kept Timothy busy, calling for more and more 
wood. 

“ What are you making such a big fire for, 
Amos?” inquired Trudy. 


THE DOOR-STEP STORE 127 

“ Need a lot of hot ashes. Do you think I've 
got about enough now, Miss Margaret ? ” 

“ Exactly right. Trudy, will you please carry 
this bundle to Amos ? ” 

She put a bulky, knobby package in Trudy’s 
arms. It was heavy, and Trudy wondered what 
it could be, but she was quite amazed when 
Amos opened it and out tumbled clean, raw 
potatoes ! 

“ Gracious ! ” she exclaimed. “ How are you 
going to cook them ? ” 

“ Bake them in the ashes ! Oh, but they’re 
good ! ” shouted Timothy. “ 1 choose that one ! 
Here, give it to me, Amos. I’m going to bake 
my own potato.” 

He seized one and thrust it deep into the hot 
ashes, pushing it in with a long stick. Amos 
put in the others and covered them deep with 
ashes. Then he piled on more wood and the 
fire roared and crackled over the potatoes. 

“ Here’s the coffee-pot,” said Miss Margaret. 

Trudy looked very sober. “ Grandmother 
won’t let us drink coffee,” she said. 

“ It’s only the coffee-pot,” Miss Margaret as- 


128 TRUDT AND TIMOTHY 


sured her. “ It is fall of nice cocoa. We are 
going to heat it up while the potatoes are cook- 
ing. Come, everybody, luncheon is ready. 
We’ll have our hot baked potatoes for dessert. 
I’m too hungry to wait another minute.” 

They sat on the smooth, clean floor of the 
quarry, and there were so many blocks of granite 
piled about that every one had a seat with a 
high straight back. And there were so many 
good things to eat ! Everybody helped every- 
body else. Mr. Johnston carved the cold roast 
chicken, and Miss Margaret passed the white 
bread. Each one had a red and white napkin 
in his lap and a white plate. 

“ Take a slice of bread,” said Miss Margaret, 
“and put it right in the middle of your plate.” 

Timothy had bitten a piece from his slice, 
but he put the rest of it down quickly for he 
didn’t want to miss anything. 

Then Miss Margaret took a thermos bottle 
from the box and poured thick brown gravy, 
piping hot, on each slice of bread. My, how 
the knives and forks flew ! There were crisp 
little green pickles, and Graham nut bread 


THE DOOR-STEP STORE 129 

sandwiches, and dried apple pie, and — oh, yes 
— the cocoa that bubbled on the hot stone, and 
when they thought they couldn’t possibly eat 
any more, some big round chocolate pepper- 
mints, so big that Timothy called them pies ! 

“ Well,” said Amos, shaking the crumbs from 
his napkin, “ if ever you are looking for work, 
Miss Margaret, I’ll give you a recommendation 
as a boarding-house keeper. If you give ’em 
such meals as you have just given us, you’ll 
have a houseful all the time. Don’t know but 
I might be persuaded to board with you myself 
if you’d locate in the country. No cities for 
me.” 

“ We haven’t had the potatoes yet,” an- 
nounced Timothy. “ I’m going to see if mine 
is done.” 

He poked the hot coals aside with his stick 
and pulled the potatoes out. They were just 
shiny black ! 

“ They’re all spoiled,” cried Trudy. “ It’s too 
bad, but I couldn’t eat another mouthful any- 
way.” 

“Wait and see,” advised Mr. Johnston. 


130 TRUDT AND TIMOTHY 

“ Don’t you be too sure. You watch me and 
I’ll show you something good.” 

He speared a potato with his fork, laid it on 
his plate, broke it open and put a piece of but- 
ter right in the middle ; then he salted it and 
began to eat. 

“ Mm-m, yum-m-m, yum-m-m-m ! ” he said. 

And when the others tried theirs the same 
way they agreed with him perfectly. 

“ If Amos can tell time without a clock,” said 
Miss Margaret, “ I can wash dishes without 
water ! ” 

She gave each person a paper napkin and 
showed them how to rub the plates until there 
wasn't a bit of grease left. All the waste food 
was scattered where the birds and little wood 
animals could find it ; the greasy papers were 
burned in the fire, and some dirt thrown onto 
the embers to put them out. 

“ Never leave a fire burning in the woods,” 
said Mr. Johnston, “ and never make one unless 
you have sand or rock to build it on. Trees are 
too valuable, and take too long to grow, to be 
destroyed by carelessness. Now let's take a 


THE DOORSTEP STORE 131 

walk. We surely need some exercise after that 
big dinner. ” 

They climbed to the very top of the hill, and 
Trudy thought it one of the nicest places she 
had ever seen. It was carpeted with soft green 
moss and spongy gray moss, dry and springy, 
and the whole place divided into irregular spaces 
by lines of young fir trees. 

“ Why,” she said, “ they are just like rooms. 
And the green moss is a velvet carpet.” 

“ Yes,” agreed Timothy, rolling about on 
the gray moss, “ and this is like a bouncy 
bed.” 

“ What a beautiful place to play house. I 
I wish I could walk up here.” 

The Santa Claus man had gone a little way 
ahead. He called to them, “ I’ve discovered 
something ! Come and see.” 

And when they ran to see what it was they 
found him standing on a big rock, looking down 
the other side of the hill. 

“ Oh — oh — oh,” sang Trudy, hopping up and 
down, “ that’s your new house, and there’s my 
little red one, and they’re only a bit of a way 


i 3 2 trudt and timotht 

down the hill. And I could climb right up 
here from your house, couldn’t I ? ” 

“ You surely could,” he answered, “ and you 
surely may, any time that you want to, because 
this happens to be a part of my back yard.” 

Then Amos looked at his clock in the sky 
and said he guessed they’d better be going if 
Mr. Turner wanted to do any milking that 
night. So this time they did not go the short 
way over the fields, but back to the quarry 
where they picked up their boxes, and then on 
to the trees where they had left Ned. He was 
glad to see them and wanted to run all the way 
home, he was in such a hurry for his supper, 
but the other picnickers were not hungry a bit 
and had only a drink of new warm milk before 
they went to bed. 


CHAPTER XI 


THE STORE 

In June the school closed and Miss Fields 
went away for the summer. She was sorry not 
to stay and see the new store, but Trudy promised 
to send her a post-card of it ; and, besides, it 
would still be in operation when she came back 
in September. Amos was busy now, painting 
the building, fitting shelves and making a sign 
to put over the door. Every day Trudy and 
Timothy went down to watch him, and the 
other children came too. Mr. McAdam gave 
them an old cash drawer to fit under the 
counter. He had a new cash register so he did 
not need it any more. Bill showed them how 
to open and shut the cash drawer. You had to 
do it exactly right or it wouldn’t work, and it 
was quite hard. A bell rang when you opened 
the drawer. That was so that no one else could 
open it without your knowing, you see. Belle 
133 


i 3 4 TRUDT AND TIMOTHY 

Perkins and May Barnes made some dresses for 
Bessie-doll, and asked Trudy if they could help 
tend store. Ben Dobson, the biggest boy in 
school, who usually did not notice Timothy at 
all, gave him an old baseball mitt and said he’d 
teach him to pitch if Timothy would let him 
sell post-cards. 

One day all the children were watching Amos 
work when he said, “ I’ll be r6ady to letter this 
sign pretty soon now. What are you going to 
have on it? ” 

“Timothy and Trudy Todd,” said Timothy. 

“ Trudy and Timothy Todd,” said Trudy. 

Then they looked at each other. They were 
cross. 

“ I want my name first,” said Timothy. 

“ You ought to let ladies be first,” replied 
Trudy. 

They glared at each other. They were almost 
ready to quarrel when the white lady came by. 

“ What is the matter, partners ? ” she asked. 
When they had explained she laughed. The 
white lady laughed at almost everything. 
Even when you were dreadfully cross, you 


THE STORE 


1 35 

began to feel better when you heard her laugh- 
ing. So now Trudy's pout ran away, and 
Timothy's scowl vanished, as they waited to 
hear what she would say. “ Why, you have 
the very nicest names in all the world for a 
sign ! It will be a sign that every one will look 
at and wonder what it means. And when they 
have read the sign, they will look in the window 
and see the nice candy and the lovely post- 
cards, and then they will open the door and 
walk right in and buy something ! They can't 
help it ! ” 

“ What is it ? ” 

“ 1 T. and T. Todd ! ' And when Trudy reads 
it she will know it means Trudy and Timothy 
Todd, and when Timothy reads it he will know 
it means Timothy and Trudy Todd, so you will 
both be satisfied. And when any one else reads 
it, they won’t know which name comes first, 
and it will be such a joke, won't it?” 

They all thought it would, and then the 
white lady asked Trudy and Timothy to walk 
home with her. On the way, she told them 
that her little nephew, Donald, was coming 


i 36 TRUDT AND TIMOTHY 

on the noon stage. In the summer, when the 
boarders came, there were two trains a day, and 
Mr. Perkins made two trips with the stage. 

“ I’ve told him all about you, and just where 
you live, and he is going to watch for you as he 
goes by, so you must be on the steps to wave to 
him. And after a little you must come up to 
Mr. Turner’s and see him. He has never been 
in the country before. He has lived in Wash- 
ington, and in the summer he has been to the 
beach.” 

“ Oh,” cried Timothy, “ Washington, where 
the President lives ? ” 

“ Yes, and he will tell you all about it.” 

Trudy and Timothy hurried as fast as they 
could with their dinner. When Trudy wiped 
the dishes for grandmother, she ran to the 
window with every dish to see if the stage was 
coming. There was plenty of time, however, 
and long before it came they were sitting on the 
steps with Lamey between them. Trudy had 
dressed Lamey up in one of her blue hair ribbons 
and she looked very fine. They waited and 
waited, but at last they heard Mr. Perkins shout- 


THE STORE 


1 37 

ing “ Get-ap, get-ap ” to the tired horses as they 
climbed the hill. 

First they saw the horses’ ears over the brow 
of the hill, then their heads, then the top of the 
stage, then Mr. Perkins’s hat, and then all of 
Mr. Perkins. And beside him was Donald ! 

They waved their hands at him and he waved 
at them. As the stage rattled by, they could 
see that Donald was about as big as Timothy. 
He had black curly hair. He looked as if he 
would be nice to play with, and just the very 
first minute that grandmother would let them, 
they raced up to Mr. Turner’s. 

Donald was sitting by Mr. Johnston. “ Here, 
Trudy — here, Timothy,” called Mr. Johnston, 
“ come and see if I didn’t tell you the truth 
about Donald. Here are his eyes, and see his 
two ears and his mouth ” 

But the white lady interrupted him. “ Don’t 
tease the children, brother,” she said ; “ let 
them get acquainted themselves. We will walk 
over to the new house, and they can come later 
if they wish to.” 

“ I want to see Lamey,” said Donald. 


138 trudt and timothy 

“ Very well,” replied his uncle. “ Then you 
can come across the fields to the house.” 

Trudy and Timothy took Donald down to 
Grandfather Todd's, where he was introduced 
to grandmother and grandfather. Out to the 
barn they raced and showed him Jack-horse 
in his stall, Susan and Daisy, and Daisy’s calf 
in the barn-yard, and Dilly and her kittens in 
the hay. The hens were running about the 
road in front of the barn. They all looked 
alike to Donald, but Timothy had no trouble 
in finding Lamey. He brought her to Donald 
in his arms, and Donald stroked her neck. 
“ This is your new friend Donald, Lamey dear,” 
explained Timothy, and Lamey cocked her 
head on one side and said : 

“ Kr-r-r, krr-r-r, krr-r-r ! ” 

“ She’s saying, 1 Pleased to meet you, Don- 
ald,’ ” cried Trudy. 

Donald gave Lamey a ride in the wheel- 
barrow, and Trudy showed him the hole where 
grandfather killed the skunk that bit her and 
made her lame. 

“ What do you do here all day ? ” inquired 


THE STORE 


*39 

Donald. “ I shouldn’t think there’d be much 
going on.” 

“ We go to school, and skate in the win- 
ter ” 

“ And play baseball ” 

“ And make candy and pop corn, and have 
maple-sugar parties ” 

“And go on picnics with Amos ” 

“ And take pictures ” 

“ And we’re going to keep a store this sum- 
mer ! ” 

“ Not a real store,” said Donald ; “ of course 
not — kids can’t keep store.” 

“ We are too — in the village ! And sell post- 
cards ” 

“That we took the pictures for, our own 
selves ! ” 

And then Trudy and Timothy talked both at 
once, and so t loud and so fast that they never 
heard Amos at all when he came whistling up 
the road. 

“ Hullo,” said Amos. “ Well, well, who’s 
this young man ? ” 

“ This is Donald Johnston,” answered Trudy. 


140 TRUDT AND TIMOTHY 

“ Donald, this is Amos. He’s painting our 
store for us. You ask him if we aren’t going 
to keep store this summer.” 

“ Sure thing ! ” said Amos. “ Here’s the 
whole firm — T. and T. Todd — dealers in high- 
grade post-cards and first-class home-made 
candy.” 

Before Donald had been many weeks in 
Todd’s Ferry, he learned, as Trudy had, that 
there was plenty to do in the country. The 
new house was progressing fast, the hotel in 
the village was open, the boarders were coming 
every day on the stage, and automobiles began 
to honk-honk on the narrow roads. Donald 
had seen the store and was quite impressed to 
think that Trudy and Timothy were really 
going to stand behind the counter and sell 
things for really, truly money. 

Mr. McAdam put up a notice in his store, 
and whenever the stage passed the door with 
its new sign of “ T. and T. Todd,” Mr. Perkins 
would point to it with his whip and say to his 
passengers, “ See that place? That’s going to 
be a bang-up spot to buy your post-cards. And 


THE STORE 


H 1 

as for maple-walnut fudge — I tell you T. and T. 
Todd are some on that ! I’ve sampled it.” 
And then he would smack his lips and all 
the passengers would make up their minds 
to trade with T. and T. Todd. 

Grandmother had written to ask Trudy’s 
father and mother if they were willing that she 
should be in the store during the vacation, and 
they answered that she could be there half of 
every day. The rest of the time she must play 
outdoors in the fresh air to keep well and strong. 
And on no account must she stay up in the 
evening. She must be in bed every night at 
eight o’clock ! Grandmother thought that these 
were good rules for Timothy too, so they talked 
it over, and decided that the store should be 
open every day from nine o’clock to one, be- 
cause nearly all of the boarders came to the vil- 
lage in the morning. After dinner the village 
was almost deserted until about seven o’clock, 
when the mail came. 

“ There’s lots of folks walk down in the even- 
ing for the mail,” said Amos. “ It’s a pity the 
store shouldn’t be open then. We’d pick up a 


1 42 TRUDT AND TIMOTHY 

lot of trade. I’ll tell you— if Trudy and Tim- 
othy are willing, IT1 just slip in and sit there, 
from seven to nine, say, and if any customers 
come, I’ll Tend to ’em/ , So it was settled that 
way. 

On the first of July the store opened. Grand- 
mother had been down and washed the window 
until it shone. Trudy and Timothy had spent 
hours displaying their goods. Trudy had made 
several pounds of delicious maple fudge. Mr. 
Turner had given them some little scalloped 
sugar cakes, and the fresh new post-cards were 
neatly arranged in piles on the counter. There 
was a table with a big blue blotter, a bottle of 
ink and some new pens on it, and two chairs for 
people to sit in and direct their post-cards. 
Trudy, in a clean white dress, and Timothy, in 
his best linen suit, stood behind the counter, 
waiting for customers ! 

Promptly at nine o’clock Amos opened the 
door. My, what a crowd there was ! The Santa 
Claus man was the first. He had been waiting 
ever since eight o’clock, with his hand on the 
knob, and he bought a dozen post-cards and a 



ALL THE OTHER CHILDREN CROWDED AROUND OUTSIDE 














































































THE STORE 


J 43 

dozen one cent stamps, and sat right down at the 
table to direct them with a new pen. Mr. Mc- 
Adam ran over to wish them luck and buy some 
fudge for his wife, and ever so many boarders 
came in. There was hardly room to walk 
around, there was such a rush ! Belle Perkins 
and May Barnes and Ben Dobson and Bill and 
Donald and all the other children crowded 
around outside, and flattened their noses against 
the window to see, and pushed each other out of 
the way, and altogether it was very exciting ! 
Amos went up the road and took a picture of the 
crowd about the store, which came out splen- 
didly and was one of the best sellers all summer. 

The fudge was all sold out in less than an 
hour, and Trudy had orders for five pounds 
more. Mr. Turner drove down about eleven 
o'clock to see how they were getting along. 
When Trudy told him about the fudge and said 
all his sugar cakes were sold too, he was ever so 
pleased. “ Good enough ! ” he said. “ You’ll 
be buying sugar of me to make fudge before the 
summer is over. You'll use yours all up in a 
month." 


i 4 4 TRUDY AND TIMOTHY 

At one o’clock they locked the door, gave 
Amos the key and went home. The Johnstons 
were there. Grandmother had invited them to 
stay to dinner and hear all about it. 

“ Oh, grandmother,” said Trudy, “ just think ! 
I sold all that candy, and they want five pounds 
for to-morrow ! ” 

“ I shall have to help on the candy making,” 
replied grandmother. 

“ And they liked Lamey’s pictures,” cried 
Timothy. “ Dear old Lamey — I’m going out 
and tell her so.” 

After dinner Trudy sat in the big rocking- 
chair with the Santa Claus man. 

“ I think we can buy that fish-route pretty 
soon,” she said. “ Won’t Amos be surprised ? 
And then — after that — you know ! ” 

In a little while she slipped down. “ I’m 
going up to my house now,” she told him. “ The 
boys are digging a well for Lamey. I’m going 
over and play house. I’m going to play I lived 
there. Don’t you tell — that’s our secret.” 

After she had gone, the Santa Claus man had 
a long talk with grandmother and grandfather. 


THE STORE 


145 

Then he sat down at the sitting-room table and 
wrote a letter to Trudy’s father and mother in 
Florida. And the grown-ups had a secret, too I 
And late that night, when grandmother and 
grandfather were talking about the secret, they, 
too, wondered if the jolly red-faced man with 
the white hair and beard might not really be 
Santa Claus 1 


CHAPTER XII 


FOURTH OF JULY 

It was the afternoon before the Fourth of July. 
Trudy and Timothy sat on the big door-stone 
when Donald came down the hill. Lamey was 
clucking and scratching about the yard, and the 
new calf was tied to a tree. 

“ What are you doing?” asked Donald. 

“ Nothing — -just watching the calf.” 

“ That’s all there is to do in this stupid old 
place — watch a calf, or something like that. 
Nothing ever happens here. Say, to-morrow’s 
the Fourth of July. If I was home, I’d sit up 
to-night till ten o’clock, and there’d be fire- 
works and band concerts and horns and cow- 
bells and red fire and all sorts of things.” 

“ I’d have torpedoes and a snap-cane,” said 
Trudy. 

“ Well,” declared Timothy, indignantly, “ I 
guess we have Fourth o’ July up here! The 
boys ring the church bell at twelve o’clock, and 
146 


FOURTH OF JULT 147 

Ben Dobson gets his cannon out and goes round 
and fires it off everywhere to wake folks up, and 
there’s the picnic in the grove, with speeches 
and lemonade — and we have torpedoes and fire- 
works, too I And my grandfather’s got some 
Japanese lanterns, and we put candles in ’em 
and hang ’em on the trees when it gets dark, 
and I sit up to see ’em too. We have dandy 
Fourth o’ Julys up here — so now ! ” 

“ You don’t have great long parades with In- 
dians and Puritans and early settlers in them.” 

“ No, but we have a band ” 

“ And you don’t have ” 

“ Git-ap, git-ap,” sounded down the road, and 
the stage horses galloped by. Mr. Perkins waved 
his whip, shouting, “ I’m going up to Turner’s 
—better come on, kids. There’s a big box here 
for Mr. Johnston, marked * Fireworks.’ Whoa, 
there — climb up, now.” 

He pulled the horses to a halt, and the chil- 
dren ran up the road and scrambled over the 
big wheel to the seat beside him. 

“ There now, Donald Johnston,” said Trudy, 
“ now I guess we’ll have some fireworks ! ” 


148 trudt and timotht 

“ Well, you wouldn’t if it wasn’t for my uncle 
— he bought ’em — so ! ” 

As soon as they saw the great wooden box 
they forgot to squabble. The Santa Claus man 
opened it very carefully. There were bunches 
and bunches of firecrackers — no giant ones, 
though — boxes and boxes of torpedoes ; rockets, 
pinwheels, Roman candles, serpents and all 
sorts of fizzy, spluttery joys. 

“ When shall we have them — to-night or to- 
morrow night ? I think, Timothy, if your grand- 
mother will invite us all down to her house, 
we’d better have our celebration there. The 
meadow across the road will be a splendid place 
to set them off — no danger of fires.” 

“ Ben Dobson says the selectmen aren’t going 
to allow any fireworks in the village,” an- 
nounced Trudy. “ They are afraid the houses 
will catch lire from the sparks. But there’s go- 
ing to be a water carnival on the lake to-night, 
instead. All the boats are going to be decorated. 
If we have our fireworks to-morrow night, we 
can see both celebrations.” 

“ Yes,” agreed the white lady, “ and we can 


FOURTH OF JULY 149 

put up a notice in the store, saying that we are 
to have fireworks, and inviting every one to 
come. The meadow is big enough for all the 
people in Todd’s Ferry.” 

“ Splendid,” approved the Santa Claus man, 
and so it was decided. 

Grandfather and grandmother were delighted 
to have a celebration right in front of the house. 
Grandfather brought the Japanese lanterns from 
the shed attic and began fitting candles into 
them at once. 

In the evening they all went to the water 
carnival. The boarders had decorated boats 
and canoes with flowers, crepe paper, lanterns 
and branches of trees, and they looked very 
lovely as they moved slowly about the dark 
lake in all their bright lights and colors. Sev- 
eral hotels had graphophones, and they played 
songs and the people sang. Trudy and Timo- 
thy and Donald sat on the bank and had the 
grandest time you can imagine. All the way 
home they talked about it. They agreed to 
stay awake and listen for the church bell at 
twelve o’clock, but — that old Sand Man was 


1 5 o TRUDT AND TIMOTHY 

waiting for them, and the next thing they knew 
after they went to bed, it was morning and Ben 
Dobson was out in the road with his cannon ! 
44 Boom — boom,” it said. It wasn’t a very big 
cannon, only a little black iron thing on two 
wheels, with a long cord to pull it about ! But 
when Ben Dobson had loaded it with black 
powder from a canvas bag, and every one had 
run away while he lighted the fuse, and he had 
run as the fuse sputtered and scolded, and every 
one had held his breath till — Boom — it was a 
very, very big noise ! 

Donald and Timothy tagged about after Ben 
all the morning. They had been told not to 
go near or touch the cannon. They had fire- 
crackers of their own, but they liked the cannon 
better. 

About ten o’clock the band came from the 
next town, the speakers came from the hotel 
with the selectmen, and a little procession 
marched to the grove by the lake. Here was 
to be the picnic and already people were driv- 
ing in from their farms. There were several 
teams in the sheds when grandfather hitched 


FOURTH OF JULY 151 

Jack-horse there. Trudy and Timothy were out 
of the wagon in a minute, running here and 
there, hunting for Amos. They found him talk- 
ing to Mr. Perkins and both men were looking 
up at the sky. 

“ Hullo, Red-top/ 7 said Mr. Perkins ; “ you 
want to keep that head of yours covered up to- 
day. The air-ships are likely to come this way, 
and if the aviators see that red top-piece of yours, 
they may think it is some new kind of a flower 
and swoop down and carry you off.” 

“ Air-ships ! 77 gasped Timothy, too astonished 
to be angry at Mr. Perkins for calling him “Red- 
top 77 ; “ up here? Oh — gee ! 77 And away he ran 
to spread the news. 

Donald soon came with Mr. Johnston, Miss 
Margaret, Mr. Turner and his housekeeper. He 
was not as excited about the air-ships as the 
other children. 

“ Huh, 77 he grunted, “ I 7 ve seen thousands of 
7 em. They fly over the Washington monument 
7 most every day. Wonder if they 7 ll be biplanes 
or monoplanes. 77 

But even the grown folks of Todd’s Ferry 


152 TRUDT AND TIMOTHY 

were very eager about them, because an air-ship 
had never come that way before. There was to 
be a great cross-country race the next day, and 
the aviators were all out practicing. The race 
might go right over Todd’s Ferry ! All the fore- 
noon, during the boat races and the swimming 
races and the sack races, people kept looking up 
in the sky to see if the air-ships were coming. 

Donald had to admit that a Fourth of July 
in the country was not so stupid, after all. 
There were all kinds of sports, and he liked 
them so much that when Mr. Turner announced 
a three-legged race for boys under ten years old, 
he teased Timothy to enter. And they won the 
race ! Amos won the men’s race, and Bill, the 
grocer’s boy, the rowing race. Belle Perkins 
took the prize in the potato race. When the 
church bell rang at noon, every one was glad to 
sit down and eat lunch. Ben Dobson came late, 
with his cannon, which he hid behind a stone 
wall. Donald saw him, and he noticed that he 
hid the powder there too. 

After dinner all the people went over to the 
speakers’ stand and sat on the benches under 


FOURTH OF JULT 153 

the trees to listen to the speeches. Trudy cud- 
dled up beside the white lady, glad to rest. 
Donald and Timothy sat on the ground, by the 
end of the bench. The speeches were very long 
and not a bit interesting for little boys, so they 
soon became tired of listening. They began to 
fidget. They turned and twisted, and at last 
started to crawl away but grandfather stopped 
them. “ Be quiet,” he said. “ Keep still and 
listen.” Grandfather liked the speeches and 
when he was not looking Donald pulled Tim- 
othy's sleeve. 

“ Come on/' he whispered ; “ sneak under the 
bench and let’s get out. I’ve got something to 
show you.” 

Very slowly and cautiously they wriggled 
under the bench and along the ground until 
they were out of grandfather’s sight. Then 
Donald scampered for the stone wall. Timothy 
followed. Over they went. 

“ There ! ” said Donald, pointing. 

The little black cannon stood there, waiting. 
Beside it lay the canvas bag of powder. 

“ Let’s fire it off,” said Donald, boldly. 


i 5 4 TRUDT AND TIMOTHY 

“ Oh, grandfather told me not to touch it.” 

“ Well, it won’t hurt us. I’ll bet I can do it 
just as well as Ben Dobson. I know I could. 
But you couldn’t — you’re a fraid-cat ! You’re a 
sissy, anyhow — playing with that girl all the 
time. You wouldn’t dare to ! ” 

“ I do, too ! ” 

“ You don’t — you don’t — I dare you ! ” 

Hot-headed Timothy seized the powder bag, 
shook out some in his hand as he had seen Ben 
Dobson do all the morning, loaded the cannon 
and then — “ I haven’t any match.” 

“ Here’s one— I brought some along for my 
punk.” 

Timothy scratched the match on the seat of 
his trousers. He lighted the fuse. There was 
a flash. A sheet of flame enveloped them. The 
earth shook as they tried to run. They screamed 
— oh, how they screamed ! 

The audience turned from the speaker. But 
the white lady, her pink cheeks as white as her 
dress, was already running toward the screams. 
So was Amos — so was Ben Dobson, and lots of 
men. They threw coats about Donald and 


FOURTH OF JULT 155 

Timothy and rolled them in the sand. Some 
one called for the doctor. 

“ Oh — oh— are they dead? ” wailed Trudy. 

Soon the doctor shouted cheerily, “ Not much 
harm done, folks. Go back to your speeches. 
These youngsters will have to stay in bed for 
a few days, but there is no permanent damage, 
fortunately. We’ll get them home, and they’ll 
soon be all right again.” 

Amos hurried after the wagons, and the two 
families drove home. The doctor went too. 
Timothy had burned both arms quite badly, 
and his eyebrows were all gone. Some of his 
red hair was singed and scorched. Donald was 
burned about the neck. They were bandaged 
and put to bed. Neither boy said very much. 
The cannon had exploded, but they both knew 
it was their own fault. If they had obeyed 
grandfather they would still be enjoying them- 
selves at the picnic. 

“ We can’t have any fireworks, can we?” 
Trudy asked Mr. Johnston after the doctor had 
gone. 

“ Oh, yes,” he replied. “ We couldn’t disap- 


156 TRUDT AND TIMOTHY 

point every one because Donald and Timothy 
were naughty.” 

Late in the afternoon, when Miss Margaret 
was sitting by Donald's bed, Mr. Johnston came 
into the room. "‘I’m going down to Todds’ 
now,” he said. “ It’s nearly time to get ready 
for the fireworks.” 

“ Oh, uncle, are you going to have the fire- 
works? I can’t see them — why don’t you wait 
till I get better ? ” 

Mr. Johnston looked at him gravely. “ You 
chose your own celebration,” he answered. “ You 
had it in your own way. You know whether 
you are enjoying it or not. You have punished 
yourself, and more than that, you have pun- 
ished Aunt Margaret, who has done nothing 
wrong. She can’t see the fireworks either. She 
has to stay and take care of you.” 

Timothy, tossing on his pillow in the dark, 
heard the swishing rockets climb up in the sky, 
and begged grandmother to go out and see them. 
But she wouldn’t leave him, and so both little 
boys learned that when we do wrong we hurt 
others as well as ourselves. 


CHAPTER XIII 


THE AIK-SHIP 

In the morning Amos came quite early with 
a message for Trudy. One of T. and T. Todd's 
best customers wanted an especial post-card — 
she wanted a picture of a tall elm tree that grew 
all by itself in a meadow, several miles from the 
village. Amos said that Belle Perkins would 
tend store, and he would drive Trudy to the 
spot if grandfather would lend him Jack-horse. 
Grandfather went out to harness and Amos went 
up to see Timothy. 

“ Well, youngster," he said, “ I guess you will 
let cannon alone after this." 

Poor Timothy was very unhappy. His arms 
hurt him dreadfully, but his heart hurt him 
much more. He knew he would not have 
touched the cannon if Donald had not dared 
him, but he knew, also, that he should have 
said no to the dare. He had made up his mind 
never to tell on Donald, but he was miserable 
157 


158 TRUDT AND TIMOTHY 

all the same. He turned his head away from 
Amos and would not answer. He wriggled 
down under the sheet, so he shouldn’t hear 
Amos, but he couldn’t help hearing a voice in 
the kitchen calling, “ Timothy — oh, Timothy, 
dear — I’ve something to tell you ! ” The white 
lady ran up the stairs. She stooped over the 
bed and she pulled the sheet away. She turned 
Timothy over, right into her arms. He looked 
into her shining eyes and felt better. “Yes,” 
she cried, “ yes, dear I Donald has told me — he 
told me how he dared you to fire the cannon, 
and he says it was all his fault. He’s awfully 
sorry, and as soon as the doctor will let him, 
he’s coming himself to ask you to forgive him.” 

Grandmother and Trudy had followed the 
white lady, and now grandfather came up to 
see what all the hubbub meant. My — wasn’t 
everybody happy, and didn’t Timothy’s arms 
begin to get better that very minute ! 

“ T. Todd,” said Amos solemnly, “ when your 
arms get well, I’ll shake hands with you. 
You’re all right! You’re no telltale. Come 
on now, Trudy, we must be moving.” 


THE AIR-SHIP 


*59 

They talked about ever so many things as 
they drove along, but mostly about the store. 
Trudy almost said something about their plans 
for buying the fish-route, but caught herself in 
time. She decided that she’d better talk about 
something else. 

" Amos, do you think you’d like to go up in 
an air-ship ? ” 

“ Well, no — I guess the top of a hay-cart is 
about as high as I hanker to be.” 

“ I wish they had gone over Todd’s Ferry 
yesterday. I’d love to see one. Donald says 
he’s seen thousands of ’em, but I don’t really 
believe it’s as many as that, do you ? ” 

“ Well, I guess it ain’t more than nine hun- 
dred. I don’t believe they could practice yes- 
terday. It was too windy. But they’ll race 
to-day all right. It’s calm enough now.” 

“ Oh, perhaps we shall see them after all. 
I’m going to watch every minute.” 

Until Amos hitched the horse, Trudy stretched 
her neck, staring up into the blue sky. 

“ Here we are,” said Amos. “ Come down to 
earth again.” 


160 TRUDY AND TIMOTHY 


He tied the horse to a tree by the side of the 
road. Then he and Trudy walked along an old 
path that led through the meadow, across two 
bridges, and at last to an immense open grassy 
field, in the middle of which grew the great 
tree. Amos lay down while Trudy walked 
about, looking into the finder of the camera, to 
see which view was best. It was very still there. 
The swallows skimmed over the meadow. Great 
blue and green dragon-flies darted over the 
water. The bees hummed among the flowers. 
Far away in the blue sky appeared a tiny speck 
that grew swiftly larger and larger. A hum- 
ming sound grew louder and louder. 

“ That's a mighty big bee,” murmured Amos 
sleepily, under his hat that he had pulled down 
to shade his eyes. “ Look out you don’t step in 
a hornet’s nest, Trudy.” 

Trudy looked all around. She was afraid of 
hornets. She heard the humming, but it wasn’t 
a hornet. She looked up in the sky. A shape 
like a giant dragon-fly was coming nearer and 
nearer. The humming sound increased. Trudy 
knew instantly what it was. 


THE AIR-S HIP 161 

“ Amos ! ” she screamed. “ Oh — Amos, look ! 
The air-ship — the air-ship ! ” 

Amos leaped to his feet. They stared at the 
air-ship. Soon they could see the two planes 
and the long rudder that looked like a dragon- 
fly’s body. The buzzing was the noise s of the 
motor. 

“ Oh,” exclaimed Trudy, holding the back of 
her neck with both hands, “ isn’t that lovely ? 
Wouldn’t you like to be flying up there, 
Amos?” 

It was so close now that they could see the 
man sitting in it. Suddenly it began to act 
strangely. It tipped and tilted and seemed to 
lose speed. 

“ No ! ” replied Amos, decidedly. “ The earth 
is good enough for Look out there ! ” 

He caught Trudy up and ran with her as the 
air-ship tilted again and dived toward the earth. 
Down it came, but slowly, till it settled on the 
soft green grass, not twenty feet from them. 
The man scrambled out, unhurt but excited. 

“ Here ” — he shouted to Amos — “ here — you 
— do you know anything about machinery ? ” 


162 TRUDY AND TIMOTHY 


“ A little,” said Amos, coming back. “ What’s 
the trouble ? ” 

“ Enough to keep me from winning this race 
unless you can lend a hand, and mighty quick, 
too.” 

Amos and the man bent over the machinery. 
Trudy quietly walked all around the air-ship 
and took some pictures. She thought they 
would sell well as post-cards. There were no 
houses in sight of the meadow, so no one knew 
about the accident. Amos and the man worked 
quickly on the machinery. They paid no at- 
tention to Trudy. But once, when Amos hur- 
ried to the wagon for something, the man stood 
up, rubbing his cramped back. He saw Trudy 
taking a picture. “ Hullo, kid,” he said, “ who’s 
that man?” 

Trudy told him all about Amos and how he 
could do everything, to which the man replied 
heartily, “ I believe you ! ” She told him how 
Amos wanted to buy the fish man out, and he 
laughed at that. “ What are you going to do 
with those pictures ? Who are you, anyway ? ” 

“ I’m Trudy Todd, and I keep a store with my 


THE AIR-SHIP 


163 

Cousin Timothy in Todd’s Ferry. Perhaps you 
saw it when you flew over. We sell post-cards 
and candy. I thought your air-ship would make 
some lovely post-cards — you don’t care, do 
you ? ” 

Then he laughed again. “ Care ? No — here, 
I’ll tell you what I’ll do. I’ll let you take my 
picture, and if I win the race, those cards will 
sell for ten cents apiece.” 

“ Ten cents ! ” Trudy almost lost her breath 
at that, but she took the picture. 

“ Is there a prize for the race ? ” 

“ Five thousand dollars ! And if I do win, it 
will be on account of your fishy friend there. I 
never could have fixed this break alone.” 

Amos hurried back now, and in a few minutes 
more the man climbed into his seat, the motors 
buzzed, the propellers began to move — slowly at 
first, then faster and faster. The air-ship rose 
from the meadow like an immense bird. 

“ Good-bye — good-bye,” shouted Trudy. “ I 
hope you win the race.” 

“ Good luck,” called Amos. 

They watched it until it disappeared, then 


1 64 TRUDT AND TIMOTHY 

drove home. They stopped at Mr. Turner's to 
tell them about it, and Donald felt bad to think 
he hadn't been there. Timothy asked more 
questions than they could answer. Grandfather 
had been out in the haying-field when the air- 
ship went over Todd's Ferry and had heard the 
motors, but could not see it because the sun was 
in his eyes. 

In a few days they read about the great race 
in the papers, but could not be sure if their 
friend was the winner because he had not told 
them his name. When the post-cards of the 
air-ship were ready, the boarders bought them 
like hot cakes. Trudy did not show those of 
the aviator himself. She thought perhaps she 
might hear from him if he had really won the 
race. And sure enough, not long afterward she 
received a letter addressed to 

“ Miss T. Todd, 

Storekeeper, 

Todd's Ferry, 

New Hampshire." 

The address was typewritten, but she guessed 
at once who had sent it. It came on the noon 


THE AIR-SHIP 


i6 5 

mail and grandfather brought it up from the 
village. Donald and Timothy were almost well 
now, and every one was in the room when she 
opened the letter. A piece of blue paper flut- 
tered out onto the floor. Mr. Johnston picked 
it up and whistled when he saw what it was. 
But Trudy was reading the letter aloud so he 
said nothing. 

“ Dear Miss Todd,” she read, u I won the race, 
thanks to your friend. Please give him the en- 
closed, with my compliments, and tell him to 
buy out his fish-route and peddle fish to his 
heart's content. I prefer air-ships to fish-carts 
myself, but that's a matter of taste. I hope my 
pictures came out all right and sold well. If 
you have one to spare I should like to have it, 
and I should also like one of Mr. Amos Bean on 
his fish-cart. 

“ Your friend, 

u ” 

The name signed to it was that of a famous 
aviator. And the blue paper was a check for 
five hundred dollars, payable to Amos Bean ! 

Now maybe grandfather didn't turn Jack- 
horse round right straight off, and maybe Trudy 


1 66 TRUDY AND TIMOTHY 


and Timothy and Donald didn’t pile into the 
wagon with grandfather and hurry of!’ to find 
Amos ! 

But before they started Trudy climbed into 
Mr. Johnston’s lap and whispered in his ear, 
“ Now I can buy my house quicker, can’t I ? 
Because the air-ship man’s money will buy the 
fish-route for Amos ! Don’t you forget, will 
you ? You know that’s our secret.” 

While the children were away the Santa 
Claus man and his sister talked very earnestly 
with grandmother. He pulled a letter out of 
his pocket from Trudy’s father in Florida. He 
read it to grandmother and the white lady, and 
they smiled at each other and said, “ Won’t she 
be pleased?” The grown-up folks’ secret was 
growing better ! 

Amos Bean was the proudest, happiest man 
in Todd’s Ferry when he saw that check ! He 
hurried over to Mr. Haddock’s house, and they 
went to the lawyer and had the papers made 
out that very day. Trudy opened the store in 
the afternoon and put the pictures of the aviator 
in the window, with the letter in the middle so 


THE AIRSHIP 


167 

every one could read it. The news spread and 
Amos was kept busy shaking hands with people 
who came to tell him how glad they were. He 
came in the store to ask Trudy if he could buy 
some liniment to rub on his arm, it was so lame ! 

Trudy and Amos wrote a letter to the aviator, ' 
thanking him, and telling him how pleased 
every one was. They sent him samples of all 
the air-ship pictures, and promised to send one 
of Amos on the cart as soon as the name was 
changed and the cart varnished. 

In reply they got souvenir cards from him — 
all sorts and kinds, and from so many different 
places. He sent them cards from all the cities 
where he flew. 

Trudy felt quite important to have so much 
correspondence from a famous person, and Tim- 
othy and Donald were inclined to be jealous. 
They said unpleasant things until Amos heard 
them teasing her one day and remarked, “ It 
was your own fault, boys, that you weren't there 
with us. If you had let that cannon alone, you 
would have gone to take the picture too. Now 
quit your talk." And they did. 


1 68 TRUDY AND TIMOTHY 


But Amos wrote to the aviator about the two 
little boys who were sick in bed when he flew 
over Todd's Ferry, and after that Donald and 
Timothy had their share of post-cards. 


CHAPTER XIV 


THE AUCTION 

The store of T. and T. Todd did a rushing 
business all summer, yet the children had plenty 
of time to play, because grandmother decided it 
was too hard for Trudy to make candy, and did 
it herself. They sold so much that they used up 
all their own maple-sugar and bought all that 
Mr. Turner had to sell besides. 

Amos painted the fish-cart red, with shiny 
black letters on each side, saying, “ Amos Bean 
— Fresh Fish and Peanuts.” He rode about the 
neighborhood and sold his fish, but he did not 
make much profit on the peanuts because he 
gave so many away to the boys and girls. He 
bought a big new horn, and long before you 
could see the red cart coming up the road, you 
could hear his “ Toot-toot-toot ! ” Amos not only 
gave Dilly fish-trimmings, as he had promised 
Trudy, but whenever a cat came rubbing against 
169 


170 TRUDT AND TIMOTHY 

his legs when he weighed the fish, he would put 
an extra piece in the plate, saying to the lady, 
“ Here’s a little treat for ldtty-cat.” Soon all 
the cats learned to know the meaning of the 
Ul Toot-toot-toot,” and waited for him when he 
drove into the yard, all ready for their fish. 

Timothy took a picture of the cart, with Amos 
weighing out some fish and Dilly standing on 
her hind legs, reaching for a piece. The post- 
cards of this were so good that Miss Margaret 
suggested having an enlargement made to send 
to the aviator. Amos wrote his name and the 
date on the back, and Trudy and Timothy sent 
it. The aviator was flying in Washington 
when he received it, and he sent Amos a big 
book with pictures of Washington. Donald 
told them all about the pictures. Amos was so 
proud of it that he said he was going to keep it 
forever. 

The new house was almost done now, and in 
September Mr. Johnston and Miss Margaret were 
going to Concord to select wall-paper. Just 
before they went they came down to see grand- 
mother. 


THE AUCTION 


171 

“ Please, would you let Trudy and Timothy 
go to Concord with us ? ” asked Mr. Johnston. 

“ Oh, please do ! ” cried Trudy, hopping up 
and down and seizing grandmother’s hand. 

“ Oh, yes, please do ! ” cried Timothy, hopping 
up and down, and pulling grandmother’s apron. 

“ Why not?” said grandfather. “ And Mr. 
Johnston can take their money and put it in 
the bank for them.” 

T. and T. Todd’s store had closed after a very 
successful season, and Trudy and Timothy owned 
more money than they had ever seen before. 

“ Oh, but — you know — that secret I told you 

— what I’m going to do with mine ” began 

Trudy anxiously, looking at the Santa Claus 
man. 

“ That’s all right,” he assured her. “ You 
want to put your money in the bank until you 
get ready to use it. That’s business.” 

It was settled and they went to Concord. 
Donald went too, but he kept on to Boston, 
where his father and mother met him, and they 
all went home to Washington. 

Trudy and Timothy had a beautiful time. 


1 72 TRUDT AND T I MOT Hr 

Miss Margaret selected the wall-papers, and Mr. 
Johnston bought some furniture. Then they 
went to the hotel and had dinner, and right 
after that they went to the bank. Mr. Johnston 
answered all the questions that the man in the 
cage asked, but Trudy and Timothy put their 
money in themselves. The man gave them 
each a bank-book with figures showing just how 
much money they had put in. Mr. Johnston 
took the books to keep them safe. They went 
to the State House and the Public Library. 
They rode back on the train with the same 
conductor that Trudy had come with from 
Boston. He remembered her, and asked her if 
her doll was big enough to pay a fare yet. Mr. 
Perkins was waiting for the train, just as he had 
been that day, but now Trudy knew him and 
scampered over the platform, shouting, “ Mr. 
Perkins, may I ride outside with you ? ” It 
was warm now, and they all rode on the top of 
the stage and said, “ Isn't it nice after that hot 
train ? ” Trudy was so happy to get back that 
Miss Margaret asked her if she liked Todd's 
Ferry better than Boston. 


THE AUCTION 


*73 

“ I guess I do I” she said. “ I want to live 
here all the time. But father’s ever so much 
better now, and I suppose he’ll be coming home 
soon, and then I’ll have to go back to Boston. 
But when I’m big, I’m going to live here all the 
time.” 

At Grandfather Todd’s, Trudy and Timothy 
jumped down, calling “ Good-bye — good-bye — 
thank you for a lovely good time,” and ran in 
to supper. 

But before they could eat a mouthful they 
had to show grandmother and grandfather their 
little blue bank-books. One said Timothy Todd 
on the cover, and the other said Gertrude Todd. 
Grandfather put them away in the tin box with 
his, saying, “ What are you going to do with so 
much money ? ” 

“ I’m going to buy an air-ship,” promptly an- 
swered Timothy. 

“ I’m going to buy Oh, I forgot. I 

can’t tell you now, for mine is a secret,” said 
Trudy. 

The next morning, when they were playing 
bank, and Timothy was trying to tuck a make- 


174 TRUDT AND TIMOTHY 

believe bank-book under Lamey’s wing, they 
heard, faint and far away, a “ Toot-toot-toot ! ” 

“ It’s Amos — let’s run down the hill and ride 
up with him.” 

“ Hullo,” said Amos, pulling up the white 
horse as they raced toward him. “ Where are 
you going — to the auction ? ” 

“ What’s an auction ? ” demanded Trudy, 
climbing over the red wheel. 

“ Why, don’t you know what an auction is? ” 
said Timothy, quite scornful. “ An auction is 
where somebody sells everything — wagons and 
hay and chairs and dishes — and everybody 
drives over and buys them. An auction is great 
fun. Who’s going to have one, Amos ? ” 

“ Mr. Haddock — he’s starting for the West 
next week. Toot-toot-toot,” and Amos blew a 
great blast to tell Dilly her fish was coming. 

The children rode up to Mr. Turner’s with 
Amos. He told Mr. Johnston about the auction. 
“ You’d better go,” he advised. “ Haddock’s 
got some pretty nice pieces of old furniture, and 
perhaps you could pick up something for your 
new house.” 


THE AUCTION 


1 75 

Timothy told grandmother, and she decided 
to go. She wanted to buy some of Mr. Had- 
dock's old blue plates. 

“ May we go? ” asked Trudy. 

“ Of course," answered grandmother. “ We'll 
all go. We’ll take a lunch and have a picnic. 
All the neighbors will be there." 

Two teams drove over the hill and across 
the plains to Mr. Haddock's on the day of the 
auction. In one were grandmother and Trudy 
on the back seat, with grandfather and Timothy 
in front. In the other were Miss Margaret and 
Mr. Johnston, Mr. Turner and his housekeeper. 
As they drove along they met others going to 
the auction too. 

Mr. McAdam, the storekeeper, wanted to buy 
some wood, and while they were driving along 
with him, who should come up a cross-road but 
Ben Dobson with Miss Fields ! She waved her 
hand to them as they passed. 

“ You're coming back to school, aren't you, 
Trudy ? " she called. 

Trudy looked at grandmother. She did not 
know just when father and mother would come 


176 trudt and timothy 

home, but she did want to stay in Todd’s Ferry. 
So she was delighted to hear grandmother re- 
ply, “ Trudy will begin the term anyway, Miss 
Fields.” 

At last they reached Mr. Haddock’s farm. All 
up and down the road were carriages, drawn out 
at one side. The horses were unharnessed and 
tied to the fence. People were walking about, 
talking to each other. Men were going into the 
barn, looking at the farm wagons and tools, pull- 
ing open the horses’ mouths to see how old they 
were, and patting the cows. Some men were up 
on the hay-mow, measuring the hay. Women 
were in the house, sitting in the chairs, looking 
at the dishes in the closets and at the tins in the 
pantry. 

Timothy ran to the barn to see if there were 
any hens, but Trudy followed grandmother and 
Miss Margaret into the house. They walked 
through the rooms, but she did not see much to 
interest her until they went up-stairs. Then 
“ Oh,” she cried, and ran across the room to sit 
in the dearest little rocking-chair you ever saw ! 
It had short rockers and round arms, just right 


THE AUCTION 


1 77 

to take hold of when you rocked, and the pret- 
tiest flowered cushion on the back and seat. 
“ Look ! ” said she. “ Oh, look, grandmother ! 
See this dear little chair ! ” 

“ See this ! ” said Miss Margaret. 

This was a doll's cradle, and there was a doll 
in it, dressed exactly like the pictures in the 
old books in grandmother’s bookcase — a low- 
necked, short-sleeved dress, with white panta- 
lets and white stockings and black ankle-ties. 
She had a straw bonnet, trimmed with flowers, 
on her black curls. Trudy hated to leave her, 
but they heard grandfather calling, so they went 
down-stairs and out in front of the house. The 
auction was beginning. 

Every one crowded about a big fat man with 
a loud voice. He was on the door-step. Another 
man brought out a chair. The fat man held it 
up so everybody could see it. 

“ Here is a chair ! ” he shouted ; “ a nice, 
comfortable chair. See how strong it is ! Who 
wants this chair ? How much am I offered for 
this splendid chair?” 

“ Fifty cents,” said some one. 


1 78 TRUDT AND TIMOTHT 

“ A dollar/' said Mr. Johnston. 

And so it went on, each offering more until 
Mr. Johnston had bid four dollars. No one 
offered any more. 

“ Sold ! ” yelled the fat man. “ Sold to this 
gentleman for four dollars." 

Trudy thought the auction was great fun. 
She and Timothy sat on the grass and watched 
the fat man sell chairs and tables and beds and 
clocks and dishes and egg-beaters and spectacles 
and everything you can think of that is in a 
house. Grandmother bought her blue dishes 
and Mr. Johnston bought loads and loads of 
furniture. Trudy was very much excited when 
the auctioneer put up the little chair and a 
woman bid on it. But soon she heard Mr. 
Johnston's voice, and then she was satisfied. 
He bought it, and he bought the doll in the 
cradle besides. 

It was nearly supper-time when everything 
was sold and the people began to go home. 
They could not carry all the furniture they had 
bought, so grandfather and Mr. Johnston had it 
all put in one place and told Mr. Haddock that 


THE AUCTION 


179 

they would send for it the next day. Mr. Had- 
dock was ever so pleased to think that his 
auction had been such a success. He told 
them he was going out to California to live 
with his sister, and they all said “ Good-bye/' 
and hoped he’d have a nice trip and like his 
new home. 

On the way back the Santa Claus man asked 
Trudy to ride with him. Miss Margaret had 
Trudy’s seat by grandmother. 

“ I wanted to ask you,” began the Santa Claus 
man, “ if you would care if I should let a family 
move into the farmhouse and live there until 
you were ready to buy it. You haven’t quite 
money enough, and it seems a pity for some one 
not to live in such a nice place. They want to 
come very much.” 

Trudy thought a minute. She hated to leave 
Todd’s Ferry, but she supposed when father and 
mother came home she would have to live 
with them. Of course, some day when she had 
money enough, she would buy the farmhouse 
and they would come there to live. 

“ Are they nice people? ” she asked. 


180 TRUDY AND TIMOTHY 

“ Oh, they are very nice, indeed. I’m sure 
you will like them.” 

“ Are they coming soon — before I go away ? ” 

“ Yes, I think so. And there will be a little 
girl there too. A very delightful little girl. 
I’m going to put the little rocking-chair and 
the doll in the farmhouse.” 

Trudy had thought that perhaps he was buy- 
ing the doll for her, but she tried not to be 
selfish. 

“ Well,” she said, “ they will have to move 
when I buy the house. And perhaps she will 
be a nice little girl, and let me play with that 
doll.” 

“ I’m sure she will,” solemnly answered the 
Santa Claus man. 


CHAPTER XV 


Hallowe’en 

School began. Every morning grandmother 
filled the two shiny lunch pails, and Trudy and 
Timothy ran down the hill to join the other 
children on their way to school. It was fun to 
be back again with them, and Miss Fields was 
nicer than ever. All the pupils were there ex- 
cept Ben Dobson. He was working. He was 
learning to be a painter. Amos, of course, was 
driving his fish-cart, so he could not work for 
grandfather and Mr. Johnston very much. Ben 
did many of the odd jobs that Amos used to do 
and Timothy liked him almost as well. Ben 
gave Timothy a lot of old paint cans and some 
brushes, and he always left some paint in the 
cans too. Nights, after school, Timothy painted 
Lamey’s house. Amos said he never saw a 
house like it. It was red and blue and green 
and yellow and white, because there wasn’t 
181 


182 trudt and timothy 


enough paint of any one color to do it all, so 
Timothy made it a crazy house, like grand- 
mother's patchwork quilt. He thought it was 
fine, and so did Lamey. 

Mr. Johnston's new house was all done. The 
children had been helping Miss Margaret hang 
curtains and put books in the bookcases and 
dishes in the closets. One day when they were 
all working hard, Mr. Johnston came in from 
the garden where he had been digging. 

“ Come down-stairs," he called. “ I want to 
tell you something." 

They came down into the big hall and sat in 
front of the open fire. The Santa Claus man's 
eyes were twinkling. 

“I'm thinking of giving a party," he said, 
just as sober as possible. “ Do you suppose 
anybody would come? " 

“I'll come — I'll come," shouted Timothy. 
“When are you going to have it? Will there 
be ice-cream ? " 

“ Timothy, aren't you ashamed ? " rebuked 
Trudy, indignantly. Then to the Santa Claus 
man — “Would anybody come?" she repeated. 


HALLOWE'EN 


i8 3 

41 Why, Santa Claus man, don’t you know that 
everybody in Todd’s Ferry would just love to 
come to your party ? ” 

“ Well, all right. If you think it’s perfectly 
safe to try it, I’ll give a party on Hallowe’en. 
We’ll have it here, and it will be a house- 
warming for our new home. Will you both 
help me ? I’m not much used to giving 
parties.” 

“ Do you think I’ll be here? ” asked Trudy. 
“ I keep writing to mother and father and ask- 
ing them when they are coming home, but they 
don’t say a word about it. Oh, if I should have 
to go back to Boston before your party I should 
feel awfully ! ” 

“ I’ll write to your father myself and ask him 
to let you stay for the party.” 

“ Oh, then it will be all right.” 

“ May we tell about it?” inquired Timothy. 

“ Sure — tell everybody. I don’t want any 
one to stay away. I’ll send out the invitations 
in a day or two. Look out for some good 
pumpkins now, kiddies — we shall need a lot 
of Jack-o’-lanterns.” 


1 84 TRUDT AND TIMOTHY 

The people of Todd’s Ferry were all delighted 
when they heard about Mr. Johnston’s house- 
warming. They liked him very much, and 
were glad he had come' there to live. Trudy 
and Timothy could talk of nothing else. As 
the day drew near, Timothy spent all his time 
making Jack-o’-lanterns. Such funny faces as 
he made ! And Ben Dobson brought over six 
tremendous ones that were dreadfully scary 
when they were lighted. 

It seemed as if it never would, but at last 
Hallowe’en came. Miss Fields dismissed the 
school at noon-time. Trudy and Timothy raced 
home and over to the new house to help. Mr. 
Johnston and Ben were hard at work, putting 
the Jack-o’-lanterns around the piazza, and in 
all the corners of the rooms. Miss Margaret 
followed them and stuck in the candles. Great 
stacks of corn were piled up on either side of the 
walk that led to the front door. The new barn 
was hung with Jack-o’-lanterns too. There 
would be a dance in the barn. The piano had 
been moved out there. The house was decorated 
with autumn leaves. 


HALLOWE'EN 185 

“ What can we do?” cried the children, dart- 
ing from room to room. 

“ Timothy may fill the wood-boxes,” said Miss 
Margaret, “ and you, Trudy, take these baskets 
to the wood-shed and fill them with pine cones 
from the box that you will find there. Put a 
basketful by every fireplace. They make such 
pretty fires.” 

The children were so busy that they never 
heard the stage when it drove up to Trudy’s 
farmhouse. A man and a woman got out. 
The children did not see them, nor did they 
hear Mr. Perkins’ loud laugh as he drove away. 

Miss Margaret sent them home at dusk, tell- 
ing them to be sure and come early. They ran 
down the hill past the farmhouse. Smoke was 
rising from the chimney, and there were lights 
in the windows. 

“ Why ! ” exclaimed Trudy, stopping, “ the 
people have come to the farmhouse ! I didn’t 
know they were coming to-day. Oh, dear, I 
wish I was just moving in there ! ” 

“ Come on,” said Timothy ; “ never mind them. 
Come on home and get ready for the party.” 


1 86 TRUDT AND TIMOTHY 


Grandmother was so slow ! She would not 
hurry a bit. Timothy had to fill the wood-box 
and feed the hens, just as if there wasn’t to be 
a party. Grandfather came in with the milk 
and poured some into Dilly’s saucer, and actu- 
ally stood and watched her lap it up. Grand- 
mother washed every single dish — she wouldn’t 
leave a thing — and Trudy had to wipe them. 
But she danced about the kitchen all the time 
she was doing it, she was so impatient. Finally 
they were ready. Grandfather locked the door 
and they started across the fields. 

They could see the new house, ablaze with 
lights from cellar to attic, but the little farm- 
house was dark. 

“ I guess they have all gone to bed,” said 
Trudy. 

“ Probably,” agreed grandmother. “ I think 
they must be tired after their journey.” 

“ Did you see the little girl when the stage 
went by, grandmother? ” 

“No.” Just then Mr. Turner and his house- 
keeper joined them, and Trudy forgot about the 
people in the farmhouse. 


HALLOWE'EN 


187 

They went up the walk between the corn- 
stalks. At the door grinned two of Ben Dob- 
son’s Jack-o’-lanterns, while between them stood 
the lovely white lady. She was lovelier than 
ever to-night, in a spangly white dress and a 
white velvet ribbon about her white hair. At 
her side stood the Santa Claus man. Oh, he 
was so happy — his cheeks were as red as rosy 
apples, and his blue eyes were all smiley and 
roguish as he greeted his guests. 

He shook hands with grandmother and 
grandfather, and then they all laughed. Then 
the white lady shook hands with them, and 
they all laughed again. The Santa Claus man 
caught Trudy right off the floor and swung her 
high over his head, and laughed and laughed ! 
He shook all over, he laughed so hard. 

Trudy laughed too, but she didn’t know why. 
“ What is it? ” she said. 

“ It’s Hallowe’en ! It’s Hallowe’en ! Such 
wonderful things happen on Hallowe’en ! 
Witches ride on broom-sticks — nice kind 
witches, with sleek purring black cats — and 
they listen at the chimneys, and they peek in 


1 88 TRUDT AND TIMOTHY 

at the windows to see if folks are enjoying 
themselves — fairies dance at Hallowe’en — why, 
anything might happen on Hallowe’en. Do 
you know, if you should whisper your dearest 
wish in the fireplace at the moment when a 
witch was listening at the chimney, it would 
be sure to come true ? ” 

“ Let me down— let me down ! ” said Trudy. 

She ran to the big fireplace where the pine 
cones were crackling. She knelt there and 
spoke to the fire. She said very earnestly, “ I 
wish I might live in Todd’s Ferry for always.” 
She looked up at the Santa Claus man. “ I’ve 
said it — do you suppose it will come true ? ” 

“ Who knows ? It all depends on the 
witch.” 

Mr. and Mrs. Perkins came then with Belle ; 
others followed, and soon the house was full. 
For a while every one wandered about, looking 
at the pleasant rooms and talking. Then Miss 
Margaret rang a little bell and announced that 
the games would begin. Amos and Ben Dob- 
son brought a big tub of water into the hall. 
Apples floated on the water and the boys bobbed 


HALLOWE'EN 189 

for them. The grown folks and the girls stood 
about, watching them and laughing at their 
funny antics as they tried to seize the bobbing 
apples in their teeth. 

After that they put out all the lights except 
the Jack-o’-lanterns, and Miss Margaret gave 
Belle Perkins a mirror. “ Walk slowly down- 
stairs backward,” she said, “ looking in the 
mirror all the time. Before you reach the hall 
you will see the face of your true love looking 
over your shoulder.” 

Belle came slowly down, while every one 
held his breath and tried not to giggle. For, 
at the bottom of the stairs, stood Ben Dobson, 
holding his most awful Jack-o’-lantern ready, 
and that was what Belle saw ! When Timothy 
ran up to try the trick Amos hurried into the 
shed. He had known about this game, and 
when he came back with something brown and 
feathery under his arm Trudy squealed with 
delight. Down — down came Timothy. Just as 
he reached the last step, “ Quaw-w-wk, quaw-k,” 
.sounded in his ear, and there was Lamey look- 
ing at him in the mirror I 


1 9 o TRUDT AND TIMOTHY 

Now came Trudy’s turn. As she slowly de- 
scended the stairs, wondering what she should 
see, a man and a woman slipped into the hall. 
Mr. Johnston signaled the company to keep 
very still. No one laughed. No one spoke. 
There was only the sound of Trudy’s careful 
footsteps on the stairs. Down she came — very 
slowly and cautiously, her eyes fixed on the 
mirror. The man and the woman crept up the 
stairs to meet her. And then she saw, looking 
over her shoulder and smiling at her in the 
Hallowe’en mirror, her own dear mother and 
father I 

How they hugged her! And how all the 
friends crowded around them and how they all 
talked at the same time ! And how Trudy 
hurried to find the Santa Claus man, who had 
suddenly disappeared, and bring him to see 
mother and father. When she found him, he 
had a long paper in his hand. And he wasn’t 
a bit surprised to see father and mother. He 
gave Trudy the paper. It had a great deal of 
writing on it, but she couldn’t understand it at 
all. “What does it mean ? ” she asked father. 



DOWN SHE Ci 4 ME, VERY SLOWLY 






















HALLOWE'EN 


191 

He took it and read it. When he handed it 
back to her, his hand shook. “ It means,” he 
answered, “ that Mr. Johnston — your Santa 
Claus man — has given you the farmhouse. It 
means that we are going to live in it, and take 
care of this place when he is in Washington, 
and help him when he is here.” 

“ But I don't understand,” said Trudy. “ There 
are people in the farmhouse — they came to-day. 
You said they were coming ” — to Mr. Johnston 
— “ you said there was a little girl ! ” 

“ Yes, I did. Here are the people that came 
— and here is the little girl ! ” 

“Who? — Oh, did you know all the time? 
Did you send for father and mother ? Did you 
mean me ? ” 

“ Yes,” said the Santa Claus man, holding out 
his arms. 

Trudy leaped into them and gave him a great 
strangly bear hug. “ Oh,” she sobbed, “ my wish 
has come true ! I'm going to live right where I 
wanted to — I'm going to sit in my little rock- 
ing-chair and play with that lovely doll ! Oh, 
you dear, dear Santa Claus man, you're the best 


i 9 2 trudt and timothy 

man in the whole world— next to father ! ” She 
drew back and looked into his face. 

“ I do believe you are Santa Claus himself! ” 
“ I know he is I ” said father and mother to- 
gether. 


CHAPTER XVI 

trudy’s home 


After the party was over, every one walked 
down the hill with Trudy and her father and 
mother. They had known father when he was 
a little boy, living in the big farmhouse with 
grandfather and grandmother, and were pleased 
to have him come back to Todd’s Ferry. It 
sounded so queer to Trudy when they called 
him “ Sam.” In Boston people had called him 
“ Mr. Todd.” 

Trudy hoppity-skipped between father and 
mother, holding their hands. At the little red 
farmhouse she turned, pulling them along the 
path that led through the lilac bushes to the 
front door. She was in a hurry to enter her 
own home, but just then she remembered that 
she was not going to leave all the good friends 
who were standing on the path and around the 
gate, and she ran back to hug them, every one. 

193 


i 9 4 TRUDT AND TIMOTHY 

“ Good-night, good-night ! ” she called. “ I’m 
so happy 1 We’re going to live in the country. 
I’m going to live in my dear red house ! ” 

In Miss Margaret’s arms she said, “ I’m going 
in this very minute and find my doll. I know 
what I shall name her. Judith, for the little 
girl in grandmother’s story.” 

“ Of course,” whispered the white lady ; “ you 
couldn’t name her anything else, for she looks 
exactly like Judith, and — oh, Trudy, perhaps 
she is Judith, enchanted by a wicked fairy and 
turned into china ! ” 

“ I’ll love her so, I’ll break the enchantment,” 
Trudy cried as she followed mother and father 
up the path. 

“ Good-night,” called grandfather. “ I’ll be 
over in the morning to help you, Sam.” 

“ Good-night, Trudy,” shouted Timothy. “ I’ll 
bring Lamey over bright and early.” 

In the house, a fire was smouldering in the 
living-room fireplace, but in the round stove it 
burned brightly. There was another stove in 
the den, and, of course, in the kitchen. Father 
explained that fireplaces were attractive, and 


TRUDrS HOME 


l 9S 

fine for ventilation, but in winter they would 
not be enough to heat the rooms. So, as there 
were two chimneys, stoves could be set up in 
any room and used in the cold weather, but put 
away in summer. Mother lighted the lamps 
and Trudy ran from room to room. 

“ There’s no stove in the dining-room,” she said. 

“ No, but the fireplace and the heat from the 
kitchen make that room warm enough. It is 
an east room, too, and gets the morning sun. 
But, Trudy-girl, you must go to bed. School to- 
morrow, you know, and the house won’t run 
away.” 

“ No, indeed,” agreed father. “ Trudy will 
have all the days that are coming to explore her 
new home. And she will have to show me 
everything and tell me everything, for I have 
been away from Todd’s Ferry so long.” 

“ Of course I will, and I’ll love to, father ! 
Oh, aren’t you glad you sent me up to grand- 
mother, and we found the Santa Claus man ? ” 

Father took mother and Trudy in his arms. 
“I’m more than glad, daughter,” he answered 
gravely. “ I’m thankful I ” 


196 TRUDT AND TIMOTHY 

That night the enchanted Judith slept in her 
little enchanted bed beside Trudy’s rocking-chair. 
And Trudy slept under one of grandmother’s 
many patchwork quilts. For ever so many peo- 
ple had known that Trudy’s father and mother 
were coming, and had worked hard to have the 
new home all ready for them. But all the peo- 
ple who knew had been very careful to keep the 
secret from Trudy, because Mr. Johnston wanted 
her to be surprised. And she surely was ! 

In the morning she slept so late there was 
only time to eat breakfast and scamper across 
the fields after Timothy. Mother had her 
lunch all ready, in a tin pail, just as grand- 
mother always packed it. 

“ Hurry, dear,” said mother. “ Don’t cele- 
brate your new house by being late to school.” 

Timothy saw her coming. “ I have a hen for 
you,” he shouted. “ She looks something like 
Lamey, only she’s spryer. Of course Uncle Sam 
will keep hens, but I thought you’d like to 
have one of your own. She’s a nice pullet. 
What are you going to name her ? ” 

“ Henrietta,” said Trudy promptly. 


TRUDT’S HOME 


1 97 

“ My gracious ! ” exclaimed Timothy. “ Her 
name is bigger than she is ! ” 

11 Toot-toot-toot ! ” sounded in the distance, 
and half-way down the road they met Amos. 
The fish cart had a new coat of paint. 

“ I expect a new customer,” he told them, “ so 
I gave the cart a new dress. Trudy, do you 
think your mother will buy fish of me?” 

“ I guess she will ” began Trudy, and 

then she saw the twinkle in his eye, and knew 
that he was teasing her. She remembered that 
there wasn't any other way to get fish in Todd’s 
Ferry, but she said, just as soberly as Amos had, 
“ If you bring good fresh fish, I don’t think she 
will make any change.” 

Amos laughed at that and drove on, blowing 
another “ Toot-toot-toot ” to tell Dilly her din- 
ner was on the way. 

In a few minutes they saw Bill, driving the 
wagon from the store. 

“Oh, Bill,” called Timothy, “you’re going 
the wrong way. Come on back and give us a 
ride.” 

“ Can’t be done,” grinned Bill. “ I’ve been 


198 trudt and timotht 

told there’s a new family in town, and I’m on 
the way to see if they have any orders. Little 
girl, could you tell me where Mr. Samuel Todd 
lives? ” 

He laughed too, and clucked at the horse 
without waiting for an answer. 

On the store steps Ben Dobson was standing 
with his box of carpenter’s tools beside him. 

“ Hullo, Trudy,” he called. “ Didn’t have 
the nightmare after the party, did you? I’m 
going up to your house. Your father sent word 
down by Mr. Johnston that there were some 
doors that needed tinkering.” 

At school all the boys and girls told Trudy 
how pleased they were to have her live in 
Todd’s Ferry, and Trudy told Miss Fields about 
Judith, her new, old-fashioned doll, who had 
slept all night in the little old-fashioned cradle. 

Mr. Turner, the stage-driver, carried them 
home from the village that night. He had 
some express packages for Mr. Johnston, with 
orders to leave them at Samuel Todd’s, so 
Trudy rode all the way to her own door. 
When she jumped down over the wheel, Mr. 


TRUDY'S HOME 


l 99 

Turner said, “ Remember the night you came, 
Trudy, almost a year ago? ” 

“ I guess I do. And you wouldn’t tell me 
about Lamey ! I have a hen of my own now. 
Timothy has given her to me. Her name is 
Henrietta.” 

Trudy ran into the house. How different it 
looked with the furniture in it ; Trudy recog- 
nized many pieces that Mr. Johnston had bought 
at the auction, and in a corner cupboard of the 
dining-room were Mr. Haddock’s blue dishes. 
Grandmother had bought them for mother. 

“ Come, Trudy-girl,” said mother. “ I’ve been 
waiting for you. Let’s take a walk through our 
new house. The neighbors have been so kind 
in arranging everything ; it seems homelike 
already. When our books and pictures come 
from Boston, and I have some plants in the 
sunny windows ” 

“ It will be perfectly lovely, mother, won’t 
it ? ” finished Trudy. 

From the little front hall they went into 
father’s den at one side and the dining-room at 
the other. Beyond the den was the living-room, 


200 TRUDT AND TIMOTHY 

that had once been two bedrooms and was now 
almost as long as the whole house. Behind the 
dining-room was the kitchen, and, leading from 
it, another one. 

“ Oh,” cried Trudy before mother could ex- 
plain, “ this is our summer kitchen, isn’t it? 
Where we cook when it is terribly hot, and 
where we make butter in the summer ! Mother, 
are you going to make butter ? I suppose we 
shall have to buy milk from grandfather or Mr. 
Turner.” 

Mother smiled. They went on, through the 
shed, where a great supply of wood was neatly 
piled at one side, and into the barn, smelling of 
new hay. There they found father and Timothy 
and grandfather and the Santa Claus man. 
Trudy heard them talking, but she heard other 
sounds that she knew very well — a horse stamp- 
ing in the stall, cows munching their supper 
of hay and, yes, a pig squealing behind the 
barn ! 

The Santa Claus man dodged when he saw 
her and pretended to hide in the harness room, 
but she caught him. 


TRUDrS HOME 


201 


“ You did it — you did it ! I know ! ” she said. 
“ Now come and show me all the animals.” 

“ Well, yes,” he confessed, “ I did. But I 
have a good excuse for piling all this work on 
your poor father. How could your mother make 
butter to send to Miss Margaret and me all 
winter in Washington unless your father had 
some cows to milk ? And how could he drive 
to the station to get all the rose-bushes and the 
sun-dial and the bird bath that we are going to 
send up, unless he had a horse and wagon ? 
And where would nice fresh eggs come from if 
there were not some Rhode Island Reds for 
Trudy to feed? Answer me those question?, 
young woman ! ” 

He pretended to be very fierce, but Trudy 
knew he was not thinking wholly about him- 
self. 

“ That reminds me,” said father, “ 1 must milk 
our two cows this very minute. Mrs. Samuel 
Todd, would you be kind enough to get those 
shiny new milk-pails from oursummer kitchen?” 

“ Can you milk ? ” asked Trudy in astonish- 
ment. 


202 TRUDT AND TIMOTHY 

“ Ask grandfather. He made me milk seven 
cows twice a day when I was a boy. I don’t 
believe I’ve forgotten all my early training.” 

“ We will all watch you and see how well you 
do it,” said grandfather. 

Father picked up a wooden box in one hand 
and a pail in the other and went into the stall. 
Trudy followed. Very soon the others heard a 
tinkling sound as the thin streams of milk shot 
into the pail and Trudy called, “ He can ! He 
can milk! Father’s doing as well as you do, 
grandfather.” 

14 I’m so relieved,” sighed Mr. Johnston, “ for 
what good would my two cows be if no one knew 
how to milk them? ” 

Mother said she was thirsty for some new 
milk and went into the house for glasses. 
When she came back, she had a tray full of 
glasses, and a saucer. Amos followed her. He 
had something under his coat, but Trudy was so 
excited she did not notice it. She ran to hug 
him. He pushed her away, saying, “ Careful, 
now — don’t spoil my surprise!” 

At this Timothy ran out from the horse’s stall 


TRUDrS HOME 


203 

where he had been making friends with the new 
horse. 

“ Another surprise,” cried Trudy. “ Oh, what 
is going to happen next? ” 

Mother had been getting some milk, and 
now came back with the blue saucer full, white 
and frothy. She set the saucer on the floor. 
Amos opened his coat and down jumped a kit- 
ten as white as the milk that she immediately 
began to lap. 

“ Oh,” breathed Trudy, stooping to stroke her, 
“ isn’t she lovely ? Amos, where did you get 
her ? Are you going to keep her ? ” 

Amos chuckled. “ I picked her off a cat-o’- 
nine-tails bush alongside the road. That’s the 
reason she has such a bushy tail ! ” 

The kitten had long hair and was all white 
except her tail. That was gray, and as long and 
thick as a lovely soft feather. Amos said she 
was an Angora cat. 

The kitten finished her milk, lapped her 
mouth and looked around. Then she jumped 
up on Trudy’s shoulder and cuddled down, purr- 
ing and blinking. 


204 TRUDT AND TIMOTHY 

“ There now,” said Amos with a big sigh of 
relief, “ that settles it. I’ve been worrying about 
what I should do with that cat ever since I was 
careless enough to pick her, but she seems to 
have made up her mind. I guess she has de- 
cided to live with you, Trudy.” 

“ Oh, mother, may we keep the darling 
thing?” 

“ Of course, dear. We could not get along 
without a cat.” 

“ I hope she is a good mouser,” said father. 
“ She’ll keep the rats and mice away from the 
barn.” 

“ Name her Snowball,” advised Timothy. 

When she cuddles down like that, with her 
green eyes shut and her gray tail under her out 
of sight, she looks like a big soft snowball.” 

So Snowball she was. 

Father came out with a pail full of warm milk 
and strained it into the glasses. Every one 
agreed that warm milk in a nice clean country 
barn was far ahead of ice-cream soda in a city 
store. 

All the callers went away together, but Amos 


TRUDT'S HOME 205 

turned back to Trudy who sat in the barn door 
with Snowball in her lap. 

“ Take good care of her,” he said, “ and be 
sure she is always at home when I come. I 
don’t want a single house on my fish-route with- 
out a cat to run out and meet me and say how- 
do-you-do ! ” 


CHAPTER XVII 


THANKSGIVING 

The days were very short now. The sun lay 
abed late in the morning and went to bed early 
at night, resting for the long summer time when 
he would have to shine so many bright, un- 
clouded hours. It was only a little after four 
o’clock when he winked his drowsy good-night 
to Trudy over the western hills and pulled his 
red and gold blankets down from the sky. The 
trees had dropped their leaves to make a warm 
covering for the sleeping flowers and ferns, and 
waved their bare branches in the cold November 
winds. The oaks still kept their rustling brown 
leaves, but only the firs and pines and hemlocks 
were green ; the Santa Claus trees, Trudy called 
them. 

Miss Margaret and Mr. Johnston were still in 
the new house. The furnace kept them warm 
and they could have stayed all winter, but Mr. 

206 


THANKSGIVING 


20 7 

Johnston had to go to Washington to attend to 
his business and he wanted Miss Margaret to 
keep him company. He told Trudy and Tim- 
othy that Donald lived very near and often 
came over to see them. They planned to stay 
in Todd’s Ferry until after Thanksgiving. 

Trudy’s father and mother wanted to do some- 
thing to show how much they appreciated Mr. 
Johnston’s kindness, and one day they were talk- 
ing about it when Trudy came home from school. 

“ Let’s ask Trudy,” suggested father. “ Trudy- 
girl, do you think that Miss Margaret and Mr. 
Johnston would like to spend Thanksgiving 
with us ? ” 

“ Oh, I know they would,” Trudy cried. 
“ And I think it would be lovely ! Timothy 
could come, too, couldn’t he ? ” 

“ Of course, Timothy and grandmother and 
grandfather.” 

“ And Amos ! ” 

“ Yes, and Amos, too, for Amos hasn’t any 
family to eat Thanksgiving dinner with him, 
and he would be lonely.” 

“ Snowball wants Amos to come,” said Trudy, 


208 trudt and timothy 


as Snowball ran into the room. “ Snowball 
loves her Uncle Amos.” 

“ She loves her Uncle Amos’s fish ! ” laughed 
father. 

“ I’ll write him a note and Trudy can leave 
it at the store when she goes to school,” said 
mother. “ And I’ll ask the others myself to- 
morrow.” 

A few days later Timothy and Trudy were 
cracking butternuts in grandmother’s kitchen. 
They were keeping house while grandmother 
was looking over her preserves in the cellar. 

“ Timothy,” said Trudy, “ what do you sup- 
pose I heard father and Mr. Johnston say last 
night?” 

“ Don’t know,” grunted Timothy, pounding 
the hard shells. 

“ I was up-stairs, putting Judith to bed. You 
know my room is over the living-room and there 
is a register in the floor so I could not help 
hearing them. It was awfully queer ! ” 

“ Well, what was it? ” 

“ Father said, ‘ I’m not much of a talker, but 
I’ll do the best I can,’ and Mr. Johnston said, 


THANKSGIVING 


209 

I’m sure you have lots of interesting cards, and 
it would be all new to them/ and then father 
said, ‘ Yes, and the room is plenty large/ and 
Mr. Johnston said, ‘ I can run the thing all 
right/ and then they went out to the barn. 
What do you suppose they meant ? ” 

“ I don’t know/’ replied Timothy. “ It sounds 
like a lecture. Does Uncle Sam ever give lec- 
tures ? ” 

“ Of course he doesn’t. He’s a bookkeeper.” 

“If it’s anything that’s any good we’ll prob- 
ably find out. You’d better not eat so many of 
those nuts. There won’t be enough for the nut 
bread.” 

Mr. Perkins had brought so many boxes of 
books and pictures and supplies of all kinds to 
Mr. Samuel Todd that Trudy had ceased to be 
curious, and so she never noticed a square box 
standing in the corner of the shed. 

Grandmother came over and helped mother 
get ready for Thanksgiving. They cooked in 
the morning, but in the evening Trudy helped 
too. She picked out nut meats and stoned 
raisins and cut up citron. 


2io TRUDT AND TIMOTHT 

The night before Thanksgiving it snowed, 
but in the morning the sun shone, making the 
fresh white snow sparkle like jewels. Timothy 
brought his flexible flyer down from the shed 
attic, and although the snow was soft, he could 
slide down the slope of the meadow as he did 
nearly a year before when he was waiting for 
his unknown Cousin Trudy. To-day, however, 
he did not pull his sled back to his own house, 
but up the other side of the meadow to Trudy's 
door. 

“ I've come," he announced. “ I came early 
because I wanted to. Grandmother said to tell 
you she would be over in just a few minutes, in 
case there was anything she could do." 

Trudy's father was fussing about in the living- 
room and her mother was setting the table. 

“ Why don't you children go up after Miss 
Margaret? " she suggested. 

They thought that was a fine idea and started 
at once. They tramped through the smooth 
snowy fields, their feet sinking and making zig- 
zag tracks as they ran about. The sled bumped 
and bounced behind them. 


THANKSGIVING 2 1 1 

At the big house, Mr. Johnston was sweeping 
the piazza. 

“ Oh, Margaret,” he called. “ Lock the doors. 
Barricade yourself! Here come two bold high- 
waymen and I think they are going to carry us 
off.” 

But Miss Margaret did no such thing. She 
came out on the high piazza, all in white, as 
they had seen her at the sugar-party, and waved 
her hand. 

“ Isn't the snow beautiful ? ” she said. “ And 
you have brought the sled. How I should love 
to slide ! ” 

“ Well, come on, then,” said Timothy. “ This 
flexible flyer is good and strong. We’ll give you 
a ride.” 

Miss Margaret laughed and came down the 
steps. She gathered her short white skirt about 
her and crouched on the sled. Timothy gave it 
a push and away she went, down the hill, the 
white tassel of her cap streaming out on the 
wind. When the others joined her, Mr. John- 
ston said, “ Stay where you are, Margaret. I’ll 
give my sister a ride on Thanksgiving morning.” 


2i2 TRUDT AND TIMOTHY 


Amos, coming up the other way, met them in 
the door-yard. The others came out to greet 
them and they all laughed and talked at once. 
In the house there was more laughing and talk- 
ing, and at dinner-time grandfather said not 
even all the good food could stop them. They 
had the best time ! 

After the table was cleared, they heard voices 
in the yard, and sleigh-bells and horses stamp- 
ing. The children ran to the windows. There 
were Belle Perkins and her father and mother, 
and Mr. Turner, and Ben Dobson with Miss 
Fields, and, coming up the road, still more 
people. 

“ Gracious ! ” exclaimed Trudy. “ Every one 
in Todd's Ferry is coming to our house.” 

“ Not quite everybody,” said father, going to 
the door; “just a few of our best friends, come 
to help us enjoy something.” 

When they had all taken off their wraps and 
the men had put the horses in the barn, father 
said, “ Now, everybody come into the living- 
room, and, please, all sit at the end by the fire- 
place.” 


THANKSGIVING 


213 

They had to crowd a little, but some stood 
and some sat on the floor, and all of them 
laughed and wondered what was going to hap- 
pen. Trudy wondered too — it was all a surprise. 
Mother pulled down the green curtains and 
shut out the sunshine ; father smoothed out a 
sheet that was hung on a wire across the other 
end of the room, and Mr. Johnston disappeared 
behind it. 

In a moment they saw a light gleaming be- 
hind the sheet and heard a click, and on the 
middle of the white curtain appeared a lovely 
picture of a little brook, flowing between green 
banks, with huge old trees on either side, hung 
with long streamers of gray moss I 

Everybody clapped. 

Then father told them that Mr. Johnston had 
bought this machine to show post-cards and pic- 
tures — he called it a refleetroscope — and given 
it to the people of Todd’s Ferry. He thought it 
would be nice to use in day school and in Sun- 
day school, and probably they could think of 
many other ways to enjoy it. 

And everybody clapped again and again ! 


214 TRUDT AND TIMOTFIT 

Trudy knew now what father and Mr. John- 
ston had meant when they had talked so mys- 
teriously. 

Father told about the pictures that Mr. John- 
ston showed on the screen. There were beau- 
tiful views of Florida, and some funny ones, like 
Timothy's alligator card. Then there was a pic- 
ture of Lamey, so natural that Amos said he 
could hear her squawk, but Trudy said that 
wasn't Lamey, it was Henrietta out in the barn ! 
They showed many of the post-cards that had 
been sold in T. and T. Todd's store ; they showed 
snap shots of nearly every one there, and when 
these were thrown on the screen father said he 
had done his share of talking, and each one 
whose picture was shown must make a speech. 
Amos and Mr. Turner made joking ones. There 
hadn’t been time to take any picture of mother, 
but she wanted to say something, so she stood 
by the fireplace with her arm around Trudy’s 
shoulders and made her speech. 

“ I've never been at Todd's Ferry very 
much," she said, “only to visit now and then ; 
so I didn't feel very well acquainted when I 


THANKSGIVING 


21 5 

came here to live, bat you have all been so kind 
to us that I must tell you how I appreciate it. 
I want to thank you for being so good to my 
little girl and making her happy when her 
father and I were far away. Please come and 
see us often in our new home and make us feel 
that we are truly a part of Todd’s Ferry.” 

Grandfather pulled up the shades and grand- 
mother came from the kitchen with home-made 
candy and a great bowl of pop-corn. They 
played games for an hour and then it was time 
to go home, but they all promised to come 
again soon and asked Trudy’s father and 
mother to come and see them. 

The next day Mr. Johnston and Miss Mar- 
garet went back to Washington. Trudy cried, 
and even Timothy was very cross and blinky, 
but the white lady laughed and hugged them 
tight, saying, “ You precious little sillies, don’t 
you know if we didn’t go away we should never 
have the fun of coming back again ? Take care 
of everything, and be ready to welcome us early 
in the spring.” 

All the way down to the railroad station peo- 


21 6 TRUDY AND TIMOTHY 


pie were watching for the stage. At each house 
they ran out into the snow to wave to Mr. 
Johnston and his sister and to call, “ Good-bye, 
good-bye ! Come back soon ! ” 

In the little red farmhouse Trudy snuggled 
up to her father and mother. 

“ Fin awfully sorry to have them go,” she 
said, “ but — oh, I’m so glad we’re going to stay 
here. I just hated to go back to Boston.” 

“ So — did — I,” said father, but not until 
Trudy was a big girl did she know that the 
doctor had said that father must never go back 
to the city to work. The Santa Claus man had 
learned this, and had made father a more won- 
derful gift than he had given Trudy. For he 
only gave Trudy a house, but he gave father 
health and strength and life itself! 

“Me-ow, me-ow,” teased Snowball, jumping 
up on Trudy’s shoulder and nipping her ear. 

“ Goodness,” exclaimed father, “ I haven’t fed 
a cow or a horse or a hen, and I must go up to 
the big house and see that things are all right. 
Come, Trudy.” 

Mother wanted to go too, and they all walked 


THANKSGIVING 2 1 7 

over the crisp white snow to the big house. 
They climbed the steps and stood on the wide 
piazza, looking over the beautiful country. Soft 
gray smoke rose straight in the air from the 
chimneys of Todd’s Ferry. The Santa Claus 
trees stood out sharply in patches of green 
against the glistening snow. The sun in the 
blue sky shone full in Trudy’s face, so strong 
and bright that he shut her eyes, and then he 
showed her pictures — the fields all green, the 
friends all back again and all the happy times 
that were waiting for her in her new home 1 


The Books in this Series are : 

TRUDY AND TIMOTHY 

TRUDY AND TIMOTHY OUT-OF-DOORS (in press) 





■ ■ 

■ 

















* 
































. 

























' 

■J , 





























f 








* 





































' 


















, 










































































































* 









































K 























1 



